SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE 

 COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF 

 MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA 



Saul B. Saila, Martin A.M. Hyman and Ernesto Lorda 



Marine Experinrient Station 



Graduate School of Oceanography 



University of Rhode Island 



Kingston, Rhode Island 02881 



ABSTRACT 



Some problems of environmental monitoring and baseline studies are briefly 

 introduced. Use of a simple linear model is illustrated by an example which relates to 

 determining where to establish monitoring stations along a cross-sectional area of a 

 hypothetical estuary. A scheme for data collection and a general analysis of variance 

 table is provided for this particular model. The methodology for analysis of a 

 specific data set gathered at one station at regular time intervals is outlined in detail. 



INTRODUCTION 



There seems to be no limit to the demands for more and more data 

 concerning the problems of prediction and protection of the marine and 

 estuarine environments. From the volume of data being generated in some 

 studies, the ultimate goal in monitoring and baseUne estabhshment appears to 

 be to measure everything, everywhere, continuously. It should be recognized 

 that even if this virtually infinite amount of data were gathered, there is no 

 guarantee that it would lead to complete understanding or predictive inferences 

 from a given system. Thus, any environmental monitoring or baseline study 

 should be practical and feasible within reasonable time and cost constraints. 

 However, the data gathered must be accurate, pertinent to the problems at 

 hand, concise and purposefully collected. 



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