SURFACE WATER IN RIVERS LAKES AND WETLANDS IS A KEY COMPONENT OF THE GLOBAL WATER CYCLE AND THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF WATER RESOURCES IN MUCH OF THE WORLD INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES. BECAUSE OF THIS FACT GOVERNMENTS AND OTHER ENTITIES AROUND THE WORLD HAVE DEVELOPED A SUBSTANTIAL NETWORK OF RIVER AND STREAM GAUGES TO TRACK THE FLOW OF WATER ACROSS THE LAND SURFACE. SURPRISINGLY NO SIMILAR NETWORK EXISTS FOR LAKES. THIS IS SURPRISING SINCE MONITORING LAKE STAGE IS OFTEN REMARKABLY EASY ON THE GROUND: SIMPLE MEASUREMENTS CAN BE MADE USING A $50 STAFF GAUGE WHEN PROPERLY INSTALLED. IN SITU STAGE MEASUREMENTS COMBINED WITH REMOTELY SENSED INUNDATION EXTENT DATA CAN PRODUCE MEASUREMENTS OF VARIATIONS IN LAKE WATER VOLUME. IMPROVED MEASUREMENTS OF LAKE WATER STORAGE WOULD SERVE NASAS GOALS IN THREE WAYS. FIRST LAKE WATER STORAGE IS A KEY SOURCE OF WATER AND BETTER MEASUREMENTS WOULDHELP CONSTRAIN VARIATIONS IN WATER RESOURCE AVAILABILITY. SECOND LAKES ARE INTEGRATORS OF THE WATER CYCLE IN THEIR DRAINAGE BASINS. BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF LAKE WATER STORAGE WILL IMPROVE OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF THE WATER CYCLE. FINALLY THE UPCOMING SURFACE WATER AND OCEAN TOPOGRAPHY (SWOT) SATELLITE MISSION WILL MEASURE WATER SURFACE ELEVATION AND INUNDATION EXTENT SIMULTANEOUSLY PRODUCING GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED MEASUREMENTS OF LAKE WATER STORAGE. THESE MEASUREMENTS MUST BE VALIDATED WHICH WILL REQUIRE A MORE ROBUST GAUGING NETWORK THAN CURRENTLY EXISTS.IN THIS PROPOSAL WE SEEK TO DEVELOP A NETWORK OF CITIZEN SCIENTISTS WHO WILL PARTICIPATE IN MEASUREMENTS OF LAKE WATER STORAGE IN NORTH CAROLINA THE UNITED STATES MORE BROADLY AND AROUND THE GLOBE. CITIZENS WILL MEASURE LAKE STAGE USING SIMPLE STAFF GAUGES INSTALLED IN NATURAL LAKES; THESE DATA WILL BE COMBINED WITH SATELLITE-DERIVED MEASUREMENTS OF LAKE AREA GENERATED BY THE INVESTIGATORS.WE WILL DEVELOP ROBUST FLEXIBLE AND LARGELY AUTOMATED METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION AND IMPLEMENT THEM IN A PHASED ROLLOUT. THE PROTOTYPE PHASE WILL BE CONDUCTED IN A NETWORK OF NATURAL LAKES IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA WHERE WE ALREADY HAVE IN PLACE SEVERAL KEY COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS. THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE WILL FOCUS ON AN ADDITIONAL 5-10 REGIONS WHERE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED (A) KEYSCIENCE QUESTIONS RELATED TO LAKE WATER STORAGE (B) INTEREST AMONG LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS WHO CAN HELP RECRUIT CITIZEN SCIENTISTS AND (C) THE OPPORTUNITY TO VALIDATE MEASUREMENTS FROM SWOT. WE WILL ULTIMATELY SEEK TO MAKE THIS CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT OPEN TO ANYONE WITHAN INTEREST IN CONTRIBUTING TO THIS RESEARCH ON WATER STORAGE IN LAKES BY REPORTING THE REQUIRED MEASUREMENTS.THE INVESTIGATORS HAVE COMPLEMENTARY EXPERTISE THAT WILL ENABLE US TO COMPLETE THE PROPOSED WORK. THE PI IS THE HYDROLOGY SCIENCE LEAD FOR THE SWOT MISSION AND HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN REMOTE SENSING AND FIELD MEASUREMENTS OF LAKES. THE CO-I IS AN EXPERT IN REMOTE SENSING OF RIVERS AND LAKES GLOBALLY AND HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPING HYDROLOGIC APPLICATIONSLEVERAGING REMOTE SENSING IN COLLABORATION WITH PARTNERS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD. EXPERIENCED ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATORS FROM UNC WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH THE INVESTIGATORS TO EFFECTIVELY SERVE AS LIAISON BETWEEN ENGAGED CITIZENS AND THE SCIENTISTS. SPECIFICALLY THESE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATORS WILL: DEVELOP A PROCESS FOR THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF CITIZEN SCIENTISTS; DEVELOP TRAINING MATERIALS (E.G. DATA COLLECTION INSTRUCTIONS WEB TUTORIALS); CONDUCT TRAININGS IN NC AND BEYOND; INFORM THE DATA COLLECTION PROTOCOL/DESIGN OF THE DATA COLLECTION INTERFACE; CULTIVATE THE COMMUNITY OF CITIZEN SCIENTISTS THROUGH REGULAR COMMUNICATIONS AND SHARING OF RESEARCH FINDINGS; AND RESPOND TO CITIZENS INQUIRIES.