Visualizing Ocean Data

Interesting images and articles from New Scientist Visions of Data



Whale shark pose

New compact and rugged gadgets can be attached to marine animals. They record pressure, temperature, acceleration and other information, helping biologists to study them in new detail.

But they also require new ways of presenting data.

Researchers at Swansea University, UK, are trying to make it easier to understand the data from accelerometers on tagged animals, which record motion like a Wii videogame controller.

This 3D plot shows the orientation of an animal's body in the water over time, in this case for a whale shark.

(Image: Swansea University)



Penguin vs cormorant

The body orientation plots (left) of penguins and cormorants are similar - but adding the data from depth sensors reveals their behaviour to be very different.

The penguin ascends the water column gradually, spending a lot of time at intermediate depths (green colours).

By contrast, the cormorant ascends almost vertically, levelling off only occasionally to equalise pressure and avoid getting the bends.

(Image: Swansea University)