Chapter X 



INFORMATION MANAGEMENT 



The marine sciences program, reinforced by related scientific and en- 

 gineering disciplines and technologies, involves numerous institutions, in- 

 cluding Federal departments and agencies, State, regional, and international 

 organizations, committees of the Congress, major U.S. industries, and 

 academic institutions. Each of these participants is involved as manager, 

 producer, or user of large quantities of marine-oriented information. 



Because of the increased use of the ocean, with new emphasis on the 

 coastal zone, the requirements for data are expanding, especially in the 

 non-Federal area. As larger quantities of data are collected they must be 

 made available to the community in a variety of products on a much faster 

 turnover rate than the present system can accommodate. Data products are 

 also changing in response to the Nation's broader uses of the ocean. The 

 potential of this information does not necessarily lie in the quantity of 

 material collected but in the efficient use and integration of high quality, 

 reliable data for whatever requirement it fulfills for the data-using 

 community. 



Obtaining quantitative environmental data needed to support research 

 and operations is an important function of the marine science program. 

 Atmospheric scientists have required more than 100 years to arrive at ra- 

 tional models of our atmosphere and its interactions with land and sea which 

 are useful for short-term and long-range predictions. In contrast, the marine 

 science community has only recently reached a point where scientific re- 

 search, national requirements, and technology have combined to permit a 

 number of practical and economically significant applications of accumulated 

 knowledge about the sea, coastal zone and Great Lakes. 



The marine sciences data networks which support the Nation's present 

 predictive capabilities include agencies, data centers, and academic institu- 

 tions handling data and other forms of information on the complex physical, 

 chemical, biological variables which characterize the world ocean. One of 

 the major purposes of these networks is to supply real-time data for fore- 

 casting purposes. However, it is actually a much broader based group of 

 data- and information-gathering systems. Essentially these systems consist 

 of elements supplying — 



(1) Environmental data for real-time and archival purposes; 



(2) Nonnumeric information such as bottom photographs, core 

 samples, seismic profiles and biological assemblages; 



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A successful national ocean program requires the compilation of available 

 data and information — such as this seismic reflection profile of a 

 probable salt dome in the Gulf of Mexico 



