Information Management 



National Weather Records Center 



The National Weather Records Center, located at Asheville, North Caro- 

 lina, is operated by the Environmental Data Service of the Environmental 

 Science Services Administration. The Center is the major library for marine 

 meteorological data, including sea surface temperature and ocean wave 

 data, forwarded from 2,500 merchant ships and a much smaller number of 

 fixed stations, such as ocean station vessels and lightships. This provides a 

 broad base of marine climatological punched cards for exchange with mem- 

 bers of the World Meteorological Organization. In addition, the Center 

 summarizes marine meteorological data on a reimbursable basis for use in 

 Marine Climate Atlases prepared by the Navy, in Coast Pilot publications 

 issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and in Sailing Directions issued 

 by the Naval Oceanographic Office. A communications system for data 

 exchange is planned to link the National Weather Records Center with the 

 National Oceanographic Data Center. 



New programs will be initiated at the Center in FY 1969 to convert 

 marine meteorological data to an internationally approved format prepara- 

 tory to developing an international Marine Atlas for the World Meteorologi- 

 cal Organization and to perform an analytical study of sea surface tempera- 

 ture data. 



Great Lakes Data Center 



The Great Lakes Data Center, operating under the Corps of Engi- 

 neers in Detroit, Michigan, was established in 1963 to provide services 

 to the Great Lakes Study Group — those agencies in Canada and the 

 United States engaged in basic and applied research and engineering inves- 

 tigations related to the development and utilization of Great Lakes water 

 resources. The Center is a branch of the United States Lake Survey, which 

 has been involved in data collection on the Great Lakes since 1841. 



Serious environmental problems affect the Great Lakes and adjacent land 

 areas. Recognizing the need to utilize most efficiently the environmental data 

 that have been obtained from the area, responsible agencies have developed 

 a program directed toward processing, storage, retrieval, and dissemination 

 of: 



— hydraulic and hydrologic data (water level) ; 



— oceanographic data (physical, chemical and biological) ; 



- — hydrometeorological data (precipitation) ; 



— hydrographic data (depth). 



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