Smart sensors - a new paradigm for marine management: An example from the Great Barrier Reef

The development and deployment of smart sensors represents a new opportunity for how we measure and monitor maine systems. The linking in of large amounts of real time data into modeling and visualization systems linked in turn to web based knowledge systems will deliver new ways of engaging and interacting with environmental data. One key component of this is allowing the user to decide how they will engage and what products they require and how they want the information to be delivered. The types of environmental futures envisaged by many marine scientists will require new approaches, new ideas and new technologies. The smart sensor systems currently being deployed on the Great Barrier Reef are a start to realizing this new paradigm for the management of marine systems.