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Crowdsourcing urban air temperatures from smartphone battery temperatures
Author(s) -
Overeem A.,
R. Robinson J. C.,
Leijnse H.,
Steeneveld G. J.,
P. Horn B. K.,
Uijlenhoet R.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/grl.50786
Subject(s) - crowdsourcing , environmental science , air temperature , urban heat island , meteorology , battery (electricity) , human health , computer science , atmospheric sciences , geography , environmental health , world wide web , geology , power (physics) , physics , medicine , quantum mechanics
Accurate air temperature observations in urban areas are important for meteorology and energy demand planning. They are indispensable to study the urban heat island effect and the adverse effects of high temperatures on human health. However, the availability of temperature observations in cities is often limited. Here we show that relatively accurate air temperature information for the urban canopy layer can be obtained from an alternative, nowadays omnipresent source: smartphones. In this study, battery temperatures were collected by an Android application for smartphones. A straightforward heat transfer model is employed to estimate daily mean air temperatures from smartphone battery temperatures for eight major cities around the world. The results demonstrate the enormous potential of this crowdsourcing application for real‐time temperature monitoring in densely populated areas.