The human face of Big Data

Australia touches more ocean than almost any place on the planet. To monitor this enormous territory, scientists have formed the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) to collect and share terabytes of data from sensor floats, underwater autonomous vehicles, scientific monitoring stations, remote satellite sensing, and animal tags. This data is continuously captured and integrated into IMOS's massive database of information about animal migration, ocean salinity, temperature, currents, and carbon storage. Pictured here are an elephant seal with a sensing tag, and a diver servicing an acoustic receiver mooring at Ningaloo Reef that "reads" any passing tagged fish or animal.

Read more from Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt's book:  Human Face of Big Data

Pulse of the planet by Esther Dyson

Data Driven by Jonathan Harris