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Temporary streams (ie, non-perennial streams) cover more than half of the global stream network. They are highly dynamic systems and important habitats. Still, they have so far not been thoroughly monitored because gauging stations are expensive, not well suited for measuring zero flows, and provide only data for a single location in the stream network. An alternative way to monitor temporary streams is by visual assessment. However, on-the-ground surveys of stream networks tend to be highly time-consuming. Hence, visual observations by citizen scientists provide a great opportunity to collect high spatial-and temporal resolution data, even though there are challenges regarding the accuracy and irregularity of the observations.

To assess the potential of citizen science data to obtain temporal resolved information on the state of temporary streams, we used the observations submitted by citizen scientists using …