GrowApp – create an animation of climate change in your own backyard
GrowApp is a citizen science tool developed in the context of the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment program (GLOBE), in cooperation with the nature news platform NatureToday.com, Wageningen University and Geodan.
The curator of the Botany Department of the Croatian Natural History Museum, Dr. Zorana Sedlar, is involved in the scientific part of the project team.
We are sharing the media release from GLOBE and Nature Today:
The newly launched GrowApp allows people to create animations of trees, gardens and landscapes by photographing them with a smartphone.
The application directly transforms images into a time-lapse film showing changes through the seasons, but also over the years. While having fun in their own backyard, users help scientists better understand climate change and its effects on the environment.
The start and duration of the growing season in Europe are strongly influenced by the increase in European temperature of 1.5 °C compared with the pre-industrial era.
This conclusion can be drawn from the analysis of hundreds of thousands of observations of flowering, leaf unfolding and changes in leaf color, collected thanks to numerous volunteers across Europe.
The flowering of 17 spring plants in Europe, for example, has shifted on average two weeks earlier since 1982.
Furthermore, these phenological observations are also confirmed by satellite monitoring of changes and greening of vegetation cover. However, the challenge of linking satellite and field observations remains.
Ideally, the process of leaf unfolding, leaf color change and leaf fall for each species would be monitored continuously. This requires a great deal of time, so volunteers most often record only the first day of leaf unfolding and the end of leafing, which is not sufficient for a complete insight into the changes.
Visualize seasonal changes
GrowApp (www.growapp.today) offers a new way to easily monitor seasonal changes of individual trees, gardens and even entire landscapes over weeks, months or years.
The GrowApp application encourages people to take photographs often. Through a new and innovative smartphone photography method, a time-lapse animation is created, making environmental changes visible – changes that often escape our attention.
To enable good animation, as well as analysis of changes in greenery, GrowApp helps align a new photograph with an existing one. The application marks the location from which the first photograph was taken and makes that photograph partially transparent, enabling optimal overlap of the photo sequence.
The updated animation is immediately visible at www.growapp.today. By adding a #hashtag, it is possible to select animations.
Creating animations together
Anyone who has the GrowApp application installed can add a new photograph at a new location. Likewise, anyone can add photographs to existing animations if they are at that same location.
In this way, frequent addition of photographs becomes possible, improving the analysis and interpretation of recorded changes in greenery.
Schoolchildren engaging in science
GrowApp is a citizen science tool developed in the context of the GLOBE program, in cooperation with the nature news platform NatureToday.com, Wageningen University and Geodan.
GLOBE is an international science and education program that enables students and the public around the world to participate in data collection and the scientific process, greatly contributing to our understanding of Earth as a system and the global environment.
The GrowApp application is accompanied by educational materials, simple and advanced assignments, that can be used by both students and teachers. Getting involved in real science becomes easy.
Scientists will provide regular feedback on the seasonal changes that have occurred. GLOBE coordinators in 16 European countries will contribute to the project.
European Green Wave
In an attempt to harmonize observations and make them comparable across Europe, special attention is requested for the following six species: pedunculate oak, common hazel, common beech, silver birch, sour cherry and small-leaved lime.
If everyone in Europe participates using the application, the green wave from southern to northern Europe will become visible.
Furthermore, GrowApp images provide a new dimension for studying climate change and its impact on the natural environment. In addition to their scientific value, the animations will enable a new way of visualizing and explaining seasonal dynamics and changes in the “gardens” of participants.
GrowApp also includes satellite data with detailed information on where the season has begun, whether there is a trend toward greater or lesser biomass in the area, and temperature data from previous days.
GrowApp is currently available only for Android, but the iPhone version will be available in a few weeks.
Information for editors:
For additional information, please contact:
Brojanka Smojver, AZOO, email: borjanka.smojver@azoo.hr
Diana Garašić, national GLOBE coordinator, email: diana.garasic@gmail.com
Dr. Zorana Sedlar, Croatian Natural History Museum, email: zorana.sedlar@hpm.hr
International project leaders:
Dr. Arnold van Vliet, Wageningen University, email: arnold.vanvliet@wur.nl
Matthijs Begheyn, GLOBE, email: matthijs@globenederland.nl
Additional links:
GrowApp website: https://www.growapp.today
Nature Today website: https://www.naturetoday.com/intl/en/observations/growapp
GLOBE European Phenology Campaign website: https://www.globe.gov/web/european-phenology-campaign/overview/
Phenological changes in Europe: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/plant-phenology-2/assessment
European temperature change: http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/global-and-european-temperature-3/assessment
Species included in the GrowApp campaign, their Croatian name, English name, Latin name and the #hashtag added to the image when using the application:
Hrast lužnjak, pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), #oak
Lijeska, common hazel (Corylus avellana), #hazel
Bukva, common beech (Fagus sylvatica), #beech
Breza, silver birch (Betula pendula), #birch
Višnja, sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), #cherry
Sitnolisna lipa, small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), #lime