Data are essential in all areas of geophysics. They are used to better understand and manage systems, either directly or via models. Given the complexity and spatiotemporal variability of geophysical systems (e.g., precipitation), a lack of sufficient data is a perennial problem, which is exacerbated by various drivers, such as climate change and urbanization. In recent years, crowdsourcing has become increasingly prominent as a means of supplementing data obtained from more traditional sources, particularly due to its relatively low implementation cost and ability to increase the spatial and/or temporal resolution of data significantly. Given the proliferation of different crowdsourcing methods in geophysics and the promise they have shown, it is timely to assess the state of the art in this field, to identify potential issues and map out a way forward. In this paper, crowdsourcing-based data acquisition methods that have been used in seven domains of geophysics, including weather, precipitation, air pollution, geography, ecology, surface water, and natural hazard management, are discussed based on a review of 162 papers. In addition, a novel framework for categorizing these methods is introduced and applied to the methods used in the seven domains of geophysics considered in this review. This paper also features a review of 93 papers dealing with issues that are common to data acquisition methods in different domains of geophysics, including the management of crowdsourcing projects, data quality, data processing, and data privacy. In each of these areas, the current status is discussed and challenges and future directions are outlined.@en

Recently, great efforts have been focused on solar evaporators because they can localize solar heat on the air-water interface resulting in enhanced photothermal conversion efficiency. However, to prevent salt accumulation during evaporation while maintaining high evaporation rates is still a challenge. In this work, a salt-rejecting solar evaporator was fabricated for continuous seawater desalination. The evaporator was composed of a top layer of carbon black (CB) nanoparticles for solar absorbance, an interlayer of superhydrophilic melamine formaldehyde (MF) foam for both seawater and concentrated brine delivery, and an outlayer of expandable polyethylene (EPE) foam for floating and heat insulation. The superhydrophilic MF foam could offer a channel for rapid exchange of the concentrated brine with the solution beneath, thereby preventing salt accumulation in the evaporator. It was demonstrated that the salt-rejecting solar evaporator produced a high water evaporation rate of 1.24 kg·m-2·h-1 under 1 kW·m-2 solar irradiance, which was 3.2 times higher than that of the pristine simulated seawater (3.5 wt% NaCl solution). Furthermore, the salt-rejecting evaporator displayed an excellent stability as the water evaporation rate remained constant even after 16-cycles of use within 20 days. @en