--- title: How “Big Data” Can Help Save the Environment description: How “Big Data” Can Help Save the Environment image: https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hubfs/featured_images/is_this_the_most_anti_environment_house_in_history-620x412.jpg --- [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hubfs/VizExplorerMar2016-theme/Images/VizExplorerLogo1.gif?t=1461648701178)](http://www.vizexplorer.com/) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Header2.png?width=190&height=35&name=Header2.png)](http://www.vizexplorer.com/request-a-demo)[![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/TwitterIcon.png?width=30&name=TwitterIcon.png "Twitter")](https://twitter.com/vizexplorer) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/FacebookIcon-1.png?width=30&name=FacebookIcon-1.png "Facebook")](https://www.facebook.com/VizExp) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/YouTubeIcon.png?width=30&name=YouTubeIcon.png "YouTube")](https://www.youtube.com/user/BIS2Video) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/LinkedInIcon-1.png?width=30&name=LinkedInIcon-1.png "LinkedIn")](http://www.vizexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/LinkedInIcon.png) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hubfs/Images/VizExplorerLogo1-1.gif)](http://www.vizexplorer.com/) - [Products](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1) - [techViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#techviz) - [campaignViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#CAMPAIGN) - [floorViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#floor) - [hostViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#host) - [vizDashboard](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#dash) - [Data Integration Hub](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#data) - Industries - [Sports](http://www.vizexplorer.com/sports) - [Resources](http://www.vizexplorer.com/resources/salessheets) - [Videos](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/videos) - [About](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/about-the-company) - [About The Company](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/about-the-company) - [Testimonials](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/testimonials) - [News](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/news) - [Events](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/events) [![](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/hubfs/Images/sticky.png)](http://www.vizexplorer.com/) - [Products](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1) - [techViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#techviz) - [campaignViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#CAMPAIGN) - [floorViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#floor) - [hostViz](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#host) - [vizDashboard](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#dash) - [Data Integration Hub](http://www.vizexplorer.com/products-1#data) - Industries - [Sports](http://www.vizexplorer.com/sports) - [Resources](http://www.vizexplorer.com/resources/salessheets) - [Videos](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/videos) - [About](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/about-the-company) - [About The Company](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/about-the-company) - [Testimonials](http://www.vizexplorer.com/about/testimonials) - [News](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/news) - [Events](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/events) # Operational Intelligence News # How “Big Data” Can Help Save the Environment Posted by [Team VizExplorer](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/old/author/team-vizexplorer) on Jul 20, 2015 11:20:44 AM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) A recent [study](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1002/2015GL063040/) using NASA’s [CALIPSO](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/calipso/main/) satellite described how wind and weather carry millions of tons of dust from the Sahara desert to the Amazon basin each year – bringing much-needed fertilizers like phosphorus to the Amazon’s depleted soils. To bring this story to life, NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization team produced a [video](http://youtu.be/ygulQJoIe2Y) showing the path of the Saharan dust, which has been viewed half a million times. This story is notable because it relies on satellite technology and data to show how one ecosystem’s health is deeply interconnected with another ecosystem on the other side of the world. Stunning data visualization like this one can go a long way to helping communicate scientific wonders to the wider world. But even more important than the technology driving the collection and analysis of this data is how the team presented its findings to the public – as a story. NASA’s CALIPSO data offers a model of how scientists, technologists and journalists can come together and make use of data to help us respond to this a slow-motion crisis like air pollution. Being able to see the dust blowing in the wind has broad implications. Today, one in eight people in the world dies from exposure to air pollution, which includes dust. This stunning fact, issued by the World Health Organization last March, adds up to 7 million premature deaths per year. Air pollution is now the [single largest environmental risk](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/) in the world, and it occurs both indoors and outdoors.   Read More at: [http://www.salon.com/2015/07/18/how\_big\_data\_can\_help\_save\_the\_environment\_partner/](http://www.salon.com/2015/07/18/how_big_data_can_help_save_the_environment_partner/) Topics: [News](https://blog.vizexplorer.com/old/topic/news) ## About vizExplorer The VizExplorer software makes life easier, more productive and profitable for virtually any business. Our powerful, yet intuitive applications provide elegant solutions to a range of operational and marketing challenges in varied industries. 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