Project Description:
SIREN (Saving Italian hydRological mEasuremeNts) is a citizen science project about recovering historical series of daily flows of Italian rivers acquired during the 20th century. The project aims to raise the awareness of the citizens about the environmental challenges of the territories they live in by engaging them in the transcription of historical hydrological records, as well as to improve our understanding of the environmental changes and guide the design of adaptation and mitigation measures with the data produced in the project. SIREN is an ongoing project that was launched in September 2023 on the Zooniverse platform. We organised workshops and dissemination activities in various Italian cities during the IMPETUS Accelerator Programme.
Project Type: Sustaining Grant
Theme: Justice and Equity, Climate
Mentor:Bruna Gumiero
Rescuing Rivers: Preserving a Century of Italian Hydrological Data
Have you ever wondered what the river near your town looked like 100 years ago, or whether the extreme floods and droughts we see today were also common in the past? The SIREN project aims to answer these questions by recovering a century’s worth of historical data on Italian rivers.
SIREN (Saving Italian hydRological mEasuremeNts) is a collaborative project led by researchers from Politecnico di Torino in Italy and the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. A dedicated team of seven researchers—Paola Mazzoglio, Miriam Bertola, Chiara Sacco, Luca Lombardo, Alberto Viglione, Francesco Laio, and Pierluigi Claps—has joined forces with 1,600 citizen scientists from around the world to bring this unique project to life.
The initiative focuses on recovering daily river flow observations recorded across Italy over the past century, empowering researchers, engineers, and the public to better understand river changes, fluctuations, and water resource availability over time.
These measurements are preserved in the Italian Hydrological Yearbooks—aging volumes with fading ink and handwritten corrections, which pose challenges for digitization through optical character recognition software. The project has collected over 15,000 pages of these yearbooks, each containing a year’s worth of daily data from specific gauging stations. Thanks to the Zooniverse platform, volunteers from across the globe are manually transcribing this valuable data. Their dedication has been remarkable, with 75% of the data already transcribed.
The significance of this mission cannot be overstated. These historical observations provide essential insights into the past and present conditions of Italian rivers, and they offer crucial data for predicting future trends. River flow data from the 20th century establishes a baseline for climate research, flood modelling, and water resource management. However, because this data is stored in fragile volumes, it is at risk of being lost due to deterioration or unforeseen events. By digitizing these records, SIREN ensures that this valuable information is preserved and accessible for future generations.
The IMPETUS Accelerator program has been transformative for SIREN, offering critical support to expand the project beyond data recovery and actively engage the public in its mission. With IMPETUS’s backing, we organised workshops for students and citizens, providing hands-on experience in data interpretation and digitisation. At events like the European Researchers’ Night in Turin, we witnessed the public’s enthusiasm for preserving historical data from these old yearbooks. IMPETUS also equipped us with invaluable skills in citizen science leadership and public communication, enhancing SIREN’s overall impact.
Looking ahead, we are excited to release all the recovered data as an open-access resource, enabling a wide range of scientific, environmental, and educational applications. However, there is still work to be done, and we need more volunteers to help us reach the finish line! If you are interested in data preservation or have some spare time, consider joining us. Visit the SIREN project page on Zooniverse to become part of this important journey.
