New study links photo uploads to the severity of storms

A new study conducted by a group including researchers from Warwick Business School has found a strong correlation between the number of photos of Hurricane Sandy uploaded to the internet and the atmospheric pressure of New Jersey at landfall.

They have suggested that it may be possible using Flickr, Instagram, and other photo upload sites, to accurately measure the strength and severity of storms and so prepare people on the ground and emergency services.

These measurements could help governments measure the response needed for disasters, as well as targeting emergency service aid where it is most needed on the ground.

Websites such as Instagram and Flickr are already used by many news and media outlets as sources of on the ground and regularly updated news, and this could be a new development in modern use of social media.

In total, 32 million photos were uploaded onto Flickr with the tags “Hurricane Sandy”, “hurricane” or “sandy” between 20 October and 20 November, with the largest number posted the same hour the storm made landfall.

Suzy Moat, assistant professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School commented: “This study would suggest that in cases where no external sensors are available, it may be possible to use the number of Flickr photos… to gauge the current level of this category of problems.”

“Flickr can be considered as a system of large-scale real-time sensors, documenting collective human attention… Such online indicators of large disasters could be useful to policy makers and others charged with emergency crisis management”.

There are, however, many other factors that can influence a storm and its impact, and Hurricane Sandy was unusual in that it made landfall in such a densely populated area.

It will take another storm to hit to see whether the conditions that created this correlation were abnormal, or whether social media really can save lives in the event of a catastrophe.