It turns out that a number of new smartphones, such as the Galaxy S3, have relatively good atmospheric pressure sensors in them. Intended to provide elevation information for a variety of apps, these pressure sensors--if collected and quality controlled--could provide thousands, if not millions, of pressure observations each day across the nation. The implications are huge, particularly since surface pressure is a uniquely valuable meteorological observation. As described below, a private-sector company has already created an app to collect and display these pressures, and meteorological research (including myself and others at the UW) are doing research on getting maximum benefits from these pressure observations.
First, which smartphones have pressure sensors in them? Right now they are mainly Android 3 phones, including: the Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and Xoom. Tens of millions of these phones have been sold worldwide, so there are undoubtedly millions in the U.S. alone. Millions of weather observatories, if only if they were collected in real time.
One company has stepped up to the plate: a small Canadian firm called, appropriately enough, Cumulonimbus Software. They have developed a nice app for the Android 3 phones called PressureNet2.1 that can be downloaded for free.
