The GOES-13 satellite, which is also known as GOES East, launched into space in 2006 and was responsible for tracking weather systems across the eastern United States while another GOES satellite monitored the country's western regions, according to NASA records.

MSN: Key US East Coast weather satellite GOES-13 fails

The heart of the report (for me) are ten cases studies of successful implementations of big data practices in the public sector in the U.S. (including the IRS, the National Archives and Records Administration and NASA), Sweden, Denmark, and Canada.

FORBES: A New Big Data Roadmap for Government (and Business)

Three groups keep track of global surface temperatures with records that go back more than a century: NOAA, NASA and the British meteorology office.

NPR: World Warm Last Year, But Not Like Record US Heat