Editor’s Choice: Now focusing on imagery from Hurricane Maria, the Planetary Response Network continues the important work outlined here for the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. This effort and others like it still need your help – this is where citizen science can actually save lives! –LFF–

Excerpt: A highly unusual collaboration between information engineers at Oxford, the Zooniverse citizen science platform and international disaster response organization Rescue Global is enabling a rapid and effective response to Hurricane Irma.

The project draws on the power of the Zooniverse, the world’s largest and most popular people-powered research platform, to work with volunteers and crowd source the data needed to understand Irma’s path of destruction and the damage caused. Combining these insights with detailed artificial intelligence will support rescue relief organisations to understand the scale of the crisis, and deliver aid to those worst affected as soon as possible.

Photo of Hurricane Irma by NOAA/CIR

Source: University of Oxford, 2017. Using AI, citizen science and disaster response to help victims of Hurricane Irma, 20 September 2017. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ai-citizen-science-disaster-response.html [Last accessed 2 October, 2017].