The Natural History Museum has switched on a sensor network in its new high-tech gardens, allowing it to collect environmental data and study the site.
Reopened in July 2024 following a major transformation, the new gardens span five acres around the museum’s South Kensington building.
They have been reimagined to provide an immersive experience that blends nature, learning and scientific research.
Described as a living laboratory, the gardens include a network of sensors that can collect real-time data about the environment as part of the museum’s partnership with global cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The network of 25 sensors has been installed across the Nature Discovery Garden to gather a wide range of environmental and acoustic data.
This includes temperature and humidity readings to monitor microclimate variations, and underwater acoustic recordings from the pond.
A living laboratory in London
The data, which is fed into the Natural History Museum’s innovative data ecosystem, is vital for understanding how urban nature is changing and what can be done to support its recovery.
Ed Baker, acoustic biology researcher at the Natural History Museum, said: “We’re incredibly excited about the switch-on of our new environmental sensor network.
“This marks a major milestone in transforming our gardens into a living laboratory, helping us better understand how urban nature is changing in real time.”
Hilary Tam, sustainability leader for Europe, Middle East & Africa at Amazon Web Services, added: “By building the data ecosystem using cloud technology the museum’s scientists can securely store and process data from the gardens for the first time.
“This allows the museum to turn this data into actional insights to support the UK’s urban nature recovery.”
In the first year of opening, the Natural History Museum’s new gardens welcomed more than 5 million visitors, showing a demand for urban green spaces.
Images courtesy of the Natural History Museum
