From EMC:

Big Data vs. Climate Change: EMC and Citizen Scientists Team Up

EMC uses big data to better understand climate change as part of White House Climate Data Initiative program

HOPKINTON, MASS, DECEMBER 09, 2014 - 

EMC Corporation, Pivotal, and the Earthwatch Institute, in association with theSchoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, today announced Big Data vs. Climate Change: EMC & Citizen Scientists Team Up. This new program, announced in conjunction with the White House Climate Data Initiative, will enable the study of interactions between nature and climate and promote the engagement of citizen scientists using big data lakes, analytic tools and visualizations.

Around the world, researchers and citizen scientists are collecting data on the impact of climate change on our environment. The data is rich and full of insight, but also disparate and difficult for many people to understand. The new Big Data vs. Climate Change project plans to enhance the power of data being collected to provide increased analytics and present interactive visualizations of information in forms more accessible to citizens, educators, and scientists worldwide.

Using best of breed data lake architecture including EMC platforms and Pivotal software solutions, the program will begin with researchers working in Acadia National Park to understand bird migration and pull in the publically available citizen science data sets from eBird, iNaturalist, HawkWatch, the National Phenology Network, and the National Park Service. The outputs of analysis will be presented through visualizations that allow citizen scientists to understand how their data is being used and the potential effects of a changing climate on the subjects they study, while also providing key insights for park officials to plan the resources and tools needed to maintain park programs.

Looking ahead, the program plans to include additional data sets from Earthwatch's global research partners, and create a data science sandbox allowing citizen scientists to gain the data science expertise they need to build their skills and interact with their data in a deeper way.

Executive Quote

Kathrin Winkler, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation

“Researchers around the world often lack the ability to connect large global data sets to draw deeper, more meaningful insights. For many citizens, data science and climate science can be both complex and abstract. It is our hope that providing the tools and platforms needed to create highly interactive, accessible analysis and visualizations not only will lead to new insights on how climate change is impacting our world, but also make climate science and data science real, tangible and actionable for engaged citizens.”

ABOUT EMC

EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset – information – in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com.

ABOUT PIVOTAL

Pivotal offers a modern approach to technology that organizations need to thrive in a new era of business innovation. Our solutions intersect cloud, big data and agile development, creating a framework that increases data leverage, accelerates application delivery, and decreases costs, while providing enterprises the speed and scale they need to compete. More atwww.pivotal.io .

ABOUT EARTHWATCH

Earthwatch Institute is an international nonprofit organization that connects citizens with scientists to improve the health and sustainability of the planet. Since its founding in 1971, Earthwatch has empowered nearly 100,000 volunteers from all walks of life to join leading scientists on research expeditions that tackle critical environmental challenges around the globe – from climate change to ocean health, human-wildlife conflict, and more. Earthwatch invites people from all sectors to join its mission, from everyday citizens to teachers, students, companies, and more. We currently support more than 50 global expeditions. More at earthwatch.org.

ABOUT SCHOODIC INSTITUTE

Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park is a non-profit organization committed to guiding present and future generations to greater understanding and respect for nature by providing research and learning opportunities through its outstanding Acadia National Park setting, unique coastal Maine facilities, and innovative partnership programs.  Schoodic Institute is contributing to building the field of citizen science and serves as fiscal sponsor of the Citizen Science Association.