ABSTRACT
Water. We all care about water. Where it comes from, where it goes, how it gets there. Although scientists have studied water and its movements through the atmosphere/plant/soil continuum for centuries, a new generation of digital environmental sensors now provide terabytes of water data to the Internet in real time, allowing for an even closer look at these important hydrologic processes. In an era where providing clean and plentiful water to over seven billion people is an increasing global concern, it is critical to enable a better scientific and public understanding of the water cycle. The Waterviz is a novel data visualization and sonification tool that captures water data from digital environmental sensors at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service's Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest,1 New Hampshire, in real time. Integrating science, art, and music, the Waterviz is designed to simultaneously engage the reasoning, visual, and acoustical sensors of the brain, bringing to life pattern and process in water data.
