By Emily Lehmann

Enter the cloud. What previously took scientists months to achieve with big data, can now take just a matter of minutes.

The geoscience community is taking advantage of cloud computing through new ‘virtual laboratories’, which allow geophysics data to be easily accessed, shared and rapidly processed online.

It’s one of the key features of a new national integrated geoscience data network that we’re developing with Geoscience Australia and AuScope.

The network aims to open access to Australia’s wealth of geosciences data and enable scientists from across disciplines to tackle society’s biggest challenges including climate change, water security, natural disasters and the sustainable development of our mineral and energy resources.

It will be charged by one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers with the combined processing capacity of more than 15,000 desktop computers.

Check out this vid for more details: