Citizen Science in Meteorology: Enhancing weather understanding through innovative instrumentation and community engagement

Meteorology and climatology have their foundations in the observation of the main meteorological variables. They constitute an essential tool for understanding the meteorological situation in operational forecasting activity, for the construction of the initial conditions for numerical integration in both deterministic and probabilistic models, as well as for the construction of time series for climate analysis. Moreover, the assimilation of local meteorological observations to the global observational network, plays a crucial role in refining meteorological predictions. I-CHANGE project offers an in-depth exploration of Citizen Science, emphasizing the use of innovative instrumentation to actively engage citizens in collecting meteorological data. Through the use of advanced sensors, mobile apps, and emerging technologies such as Meteotracker, our project aims to transform individuals into true "citizen scientists," making a significant contribution to the understanding of atmospheric phenomena. We present a case study illustrating the integration of state-of-the-art instrumentation with community participation in Living Labs, highlighting how Citizen Science can enrich meteorological research. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of this approach, emphasizing the validity of community-collected data and its impact on the accuracy of local weather forecasts.