146 NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PROGRAM—1965 
the scientist is assured of receiving the highest quality of data possible under 
the circumstances. 
Third : We have emphasized personal service. Services include providing tech- 
nical information, educational materials, and advice beyond that represented by 
the simple provision of “hard” data. 
SERVICES 
Regarding our service to the oceanographic community, the NODC has been 
called on many times to furnish statistically summarized and analyzed ocean- 
ographie data for industrial, private, and Government organizations which need 
information on the environment in which their instruments will be operated. 
I would like to give you some idea as to the volume of the reimbursable work 
performed at the NODC. During fiscal year 1961 our reimbursable funds 
amounted to about $3,000; during fiscal year 1963, they increased to over $200,000. 
It must be pointed out, however, that these figures include governmental and non- 
governmental (industry, private institutions, etc.) requests for services. De- 
tails on the services supplied are given in the annual report. 
With your permission, I would like to introduce for the record some of the pub- 
lications produced by the Data Center since our last report to you. 
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
Now I would like to outline briefly our progress in research and development. 
We have developed a holding-recall system for indexing core, grab, and 
dredge samples. Additionally, a system for handling the chemical analyses of 
sea-bottom materials has been completed and currently is being circulated for 
approval of the oceanographic community. In work is the development of a 
system for handling the physical properties of sediments. 
Significant advances have been made in the development of holding-recall sys- 
tems for hydrobiological data. Developed (and approved by our Interagency 
Advisory Board) to date are holding-recall systems to handle environmental 
data, phytoplankton, primary productivity, phytoplankton pigment data, zoo- 
plankton data, and benthos data. 
Progress is being made in the field of physical-chemical data as well. A hold- 
ing-recall system has just been completed for drift bottle data. The NODC 
worked very closely with Mr. Dean Bumpus of the Woods Hole Oceanographic 
Institution and Dr. John Norcross of the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. 
Also under development are schemes for handling near shore oceanographie data, 
instrument-measured current data, and nonnutrient chemical data. 
It should be pointed out that all holding-recall systems are developed in 
concert with the oceanographic community. Extremely gratifying is the co- 
operation the NODC has received from the oceanographic community which is 
reflected in their willingness to serve on the various ad hoc committees formed 
in conjunction with our developmental work. 
QUALITY CONTROL OF OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA 
Now that the NODC has had the experience of nearly 3 years of working 
with various types of oceanographic data in a multitudinous variety of formats, 
we can rationally approach the problem of developing and implementing auto- 
mated (computer) quality controls. I do not mean to imply that until this time 
there has been no application of quality control, but practically all of it has 
been applied subjectively. With our present backlog of data and our present 
and future acquisition effort, we would be naive to believe that we could continue 
to apply subjective quality controls. To have applied automated quality con- 
trols at the onset of our operation would also have been naive since no end 
products had been defined and we had practically no guidelines for total systems. 
Now we feel we are ready to begin. 
Shortly, we expect to have in operation a computer program which will check 
some items of a routine nature which at the present time are monitored by our 
oceanographers. This will then give additional time for these oceanographers 
to assess the scientific plausibility of the data. One of the first attempts at 
automated quality control that we will implement shortly is a program which 
will check the quality of work done by contractors who are digitizing bathy- 
thermograms for the NODC. This will not only insure that a major contractor 
is capable of performing quality work, but will also provide a quality check as 
the work progresses. 
