As the problems to be solved become more complex, global in scope, 

 and multidisciplinary in content, the data consumers will be less able 

 to produce their own raw materials and will become more dependent 

 on the work of others. To prevent unnecessary and costly duplica- 

 tion in data collection — the most costly part of marine sciences — col- 

 lected data should be readily available to all users consistent with the 

 need for national security. 



The exploration of the oceans has been a somewhat random and 

 often uncoordinated process. There has never been widespread agree- 

 ment among the marine science community, as there is in some other 

 fields, as to data handling procedures and standards with the result 

 that materials are not as coherent and systematic as we now desire. In 

 the meanwhile, technology now makes it possible to accumulate data 

 at a vastly faster rate. Today, data users are often unaware of exist- 

 ing sources, and are unable to retrieve needed data quickly in readily 

 usable form. In other cases, however, known data may be deliberately 

 rejected because of doubts of its validity. These problems will need 

 very careful definition before solutions can be formulated. 



Any future system to improve management of data should be a 

 system that deals in one consistent way with data from its source 

 through authentication, indexing, filing, and retrieval. Such a sys- 

 tem involves not only the data commodity itself, but intimately 

 involves the variety of private and public users and contributors, the 



NATIONAL NEEDS 



"THE DATA PROBLEM" 



- SCIENTIFIC 



KNOWLEDGE 

 -ENVIRONMENTAL 



PREDICTION 

 -RESOURCES 



DEVELOPMENT 

 -NATIONAL 



SECURITY 

 -COASTAL 



DEVELOPMENT 

 -TRANSPORTATION 

 -POLICY MAKING 



A 



ESTABLISH INFORMATION 



END-USE. OBJECTIVE. 



OR MISSION 



IDENTIFY INFORMATION 



NEED TO FULFILL 



OBJECTIVES 



• VARIABLES 



• GEOGRAPHIC LOC 



• FREQUENCY 

 . ACCURACY 



• PRECISION 



• ETC 



MATH. MODELS, 

 BEHAVIORAL MODELS 



PAST EXPERIENCES 

 STATISTICAL ANAL. 



APPLICATION 



X 



INFORMATION 

 DISSEMINATION 



L 



DESIGN OF 

 ACQUISITION 



SYSTEM 



• SENSORS 



• PLATFORMS 



• NETWORKS 



• COMMUNICATIONS 



• INFORMATION 



PROCESSING 



• DISSEMINATION 



• LOGISTICS, ETC. 



T 



I 



INFORMATION 

 ACQUISITION 



INFORMATION 

 PROCESSING 



OUAUTY CONTROL' 

 CONVERSION 

 ANALYSIS a 



CORRELATION 

 STORAGE 



Figure 13. — Marine sciences information management. 



66 



