WHAT IS CITIZEN SCIENCE?
Citizen Science refers to a variety of ways in which the citizens are involved in research or in gaining new scientific knowledge, in conservation actions or policy change. This is done usually in close collaboration with scientists and scientific institutions.

OBJECTIVES OF THE “CAVE DRIP WATER” CITIZEN PROJECT

The objective of this project is to produce a map of cave drip water isotopic values (hydrogen and oxygen) for Switzerland and monitor cave water isotopes over a long-time interval. The future map could be integrated into the national (e.g. Federal Office for the Environment) as well as the international network of isotopes in rainfall and groundwater (e.g. GNIP). Furthermore, the isotope data will give insights into the spatial distribution of water isotopes in the swiss karst systems and the evolution of the karst water reservoir in the host rock. An overview map will be made available to the community on our website in the coming months.

SAMPLING STRATEGY AND ANALYSES

We will provide sampling-kits to speleologists in order to collect drip water samples in caves from Switzerland and in regions close to the border. These water samples will be analyzed in the laboratory of the Quaternary Geology group at the University of Basel.
The free sampling-kits can be ordered from us or obtained directly at different caving reunions.