Ocean Big Data – Marinexplore Hires New VP

Marinexplore, the ocean’s big data platform, today announced that Dr. Christopher W. Clark, Director of the Bioacoustic Research Program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will join the Silicon Valley company as Vice President of Acoustic Data & Environmental Science. Clark’s addition will bolster the company’s offerings as Marinexplore begins to provide enterprise data management solutions.

“We have a unique opportunity to make sense of an ocean of big data, and Chris will lead our effort in the critical area of ocean acoustics” said Rainer Sternfeld, Chief Executive Officer of Marinexplore. “With his expertise in ocean bioacoustic data and human environmental impacts, Chris will accelerate our ability to take real-time ocean data and turn it into actionable inputs for businesses, environmental organizations, education and government.”

In his new role, Dr. Clark will lead the integration of bringing acoustic data processing capabilities into the Marinexplore data platform, defining use cases in sensitive areas, and collaborating with offshore enterprises and the academic community to reduce risk and processing time when working with environmental data.

“A sustainable future requires dramatic changes in the way we interact with and behave toward the world’s living oceans, from pole to pole, for decades to come,” said Dr. Clark. “Marinexplore is enabling access to multi-dimensional, global ocean data, including the voices of ocean life, that enable and inspire objective decisions. I am extremely excited to work with such an incredible team devoted to a sustainable ocean and the future of this planet.”

Dr. Clark’s appointment comes at an important phase of Marinexplore’s growth. The 1.5-year old company already has developed a universal way how to search for ocean data, implementing the technique on marinexplore.org, which has become the leading hub for researchers, environmental advocates and organizations to access publically available ocean data and create visualizations. For example, on the site people can create data subsets and visualizations of global ocean temperature patterns, the impact of major storms on currents and impacts of human activity on our oceans.

Marinexplore is developing an enterprise data management suite that helps companies to organize and streamline ocean data workflows for the offshore industry. The company is in the process of selecting several companies to participate in its NAUTILUS pilot program. This program will allow the selected enterprises to enhance their decision making and fast data processing capabilities at unprecedented scales.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Clark has successfully worked as a researcher at the intersection between sciences, applied engineering, industry, regulatory agencies and environmental organizations. While serving as Director of the Cornell Lab’s Bioacoustics Research Program, he built a world-class research program that includes a remarkable team of engineers, computer scientists and biologists at a world-class academic institution.

Dr. Clark is a subject matter expert on marine mammals and a variety of issues including human impacts on marine acoustic ecosystems, oil and gas exploration and development, and sustainable energy. In this role, he has worked with Conoco-Phillips, Exxon-Mobile, BP, Shell, the U.S. government, and NGOs like the National Resources Defense Council to enable environmentally responsible decisions based on best available science.

Dr. Clark is best known for his groundbreaking work for evaluating the cumulative risks to marine animals, populations and ecosystems from human noise-generating activities. This work has also led to the implementation of a near real-time system that automatically reports the occurrence of endangered marine mammals in coastal, but economically important, regions.

Dr. Clark holds a PhD in biology and a MS in EE from Stony Brook University.

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