Chapter VII 



OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA 



Data Needs 



The rational flow of information from collector to consumer is the 

 lifeblood of a marine science and technology enterprise. If intensified 

 but necessarily dispersed efforts are to be successful — to understand 

 complex ocean phenomena, marine life, and the ocean-atmosphere in- 

 teraction^and if understanding is to foster application, data handling 

 must be responsive to a wide variety of user needs. 



Studies have shown evidence of serious deficiences in the Nation's 

 oceanographic data handling: delays in filing; archaic handling 

 methods; lack of critical evaluation and inadequate identification of 

 purpose. Since Federal interests are sharply involved both in pro- 

 duction and consumption of marine data, the Marine Sciences Council 

 decided to undertake a comprehensive study of requirements for data 

 acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use. Non-Federal as well as Fed- 

 eral requirements will be taken into account. The study should lead 

 to more effective data utilization as well as lower costs. 



Marine science information — like any related body of informa- 

 tion — involves a complex, often perishable data commodity including 

 connected functions of acquisition, standardization and tests for 

 accuracy, storage, retrieval, analysis, and synthesis. Today, real-time 

 as well as archival data systems must be accommodated. Such data 

 may be classified by field, such as physical oceanography or geology, 

 and by geographical source. It may be classified according to 

 whether the user's motivation is for description, analysis, or 

 application. 



Vast quantities of marine environmental information are required 

 to support virtually all of the purposes of marine science and techno- 

 logy discussed in this report. Scientists, commercial fisheries experts, 

 meteorologists, military planners and operators, and ocean engineers 

 are naturally concerned with the collection and interpretation of mate- 

 rials in a manner suited to their own particular needs, as illustrated 

 by Figure 13. Officials in Govemnient and executives in business man- 

 agement increasingly depend on quantitative scientific information 

 and objective analysis to make policy decisions. 



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