Assessment of National Data Management Functions 



The Marine Sciences Council, recognizing the need for availability of 

 data and data products, arranged for a comprehensive study to provide 

 a national data program for the marine environment. In establishing the 

 criteria for this study the Council recognized that as national require- 

 ments for use of the ocean and its resources begin to expand, new infor- 

 mation and products, which will allow the most effective use of the ocean, 

 must be developed in addition to existing products. The study, completed by 

 the System Development Corporation in 1969, sought to identify and 

 forecast data requirements, delineate a national data program and a plan 

 to improve coordination of existing marine data and information service 

 functions, and determine cost estimates for the principal components and 

 alternatives. 



The study, entitled "A National Data Program for the Marine Environ- 

 ment," ^ delineates the complex interactions between user groups and the 

 marine sciences data network. The study, which was the second of two con- 

 tracted by the Council, was performed in a series of interrelated parts. These 

 sections, which were combined into the final report, are — 



( 1 ) Analysis of the needs of marine data service customers ; 



(2) Delineation of priority marine data and products and the 

 analysis of selected data services ; 



( 3 ) Analysis of data functions ; and 



(4) National marine data program for the marine environment. 



Specifically, the study's major recommendations call for — 



( 1 ) Establishment of a permanent mechanism for Federal coordina- 

 tion of marine data management; 



(2) Substantial increase in the authority and responsibility assigned 

 to existing national data centers; 



(3) Designation of a national ocean engineering data referral center; 



(4) Development and maintenance of a comprehensive inventory 

 of marine data holdings, samples, products, and publications; 



(5) Strengthening of Federal/State relationships in the acquisition 

 of marine data and the provision of data services; 



(6) Completion of the installation of on-board data processing sys- 

 tems on Government oceanographic ships; and 



(7) Development of new marine environment data products e.g., 

 sea-air energy exchange forecasts, subsurface current forecasts, inland 

 lakes forecasts, water quality maps and atlases. 



In its initial acceptance of the national data program study, the Council's 

 Committee for Policy Review recognized the primary functions of the Na- 

 tional Oceanographic Data Center as one of the key elements in the data 

 network. The Committee recommended an expansion and strengthening of 

 the NODC Advisory Board membership so that it may assume the role of 



^ Study performed under contract CN00014-67-C-0559) for the National Council 

 on Marine Resources and Engineering Development by the System Development 

 Corp., Santa Monica, Calif., July 1969. 



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