marine resources and NOAA's products and services to the attention 

 of those who use the sea, either for commercial or recreational 

 purposes. 



An integral part of the NMAS program is the Regional Coastal Infor- 

 mation Center (RCIC), a network of up to nine interlocking centers 

 being developed as a cooperative effort by NOAA's Environmental Data 

 and Information Service (EDIS), its Office of Coastal Zone Management 

 (OCZM), and OSG. RCIC's will provide information services to coastal 

 zone management programs. Sea Grant programs, local offices, and 

 individual researchers. The RCIC at the University of Rhode Island, 

 the first established, is called the Northeast Regional Coastal In- 

 formation Center (NERCIC). Others established to date are the North- 

 west Coastal Information Center (NCIC) and the Great Lakes Regional 

 Information and Referral Center (GLRIRC). 



OSG recently instituted an International Cooperative Assistance 

 Program (ICAP) for marine science training and information exchange 

 with other nations. Individual Sea Grant Universities or colleges 

 may receive funding under the program to develop cooperative programs 

 with the developing nations. 



374. OFFICE OF OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC SERVICES: OAS 

 Components of OAS are the Environmental Data and Information 



Service (EDIS), the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS), 

 the National Ocean Survey (NOS), and the National Weather Service 

 (NWS). Descriptions of these service components are covered in 

 entries 375 through 378. 



375. ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICE: EDIS 



The Environmental Data Service (EDS) was created in the former 

 Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in 1965. It was 

 transferred to the newly created NOAA in 1970. Proposals were made 

 to change its name to National Environmental Data and Information 

 Service (NEDIS) to reflect its role in information as well as data 

 services; however, in 1978 its name was changed but the "National" 

 was eliminated. 



Through its national network of specialized environmental service 

 centers, EDIS acquires, processes, and disseminates global environ- 

 mental data and information, provides professional data management 

 support to large-scale data gathering programs, and assesses the 

 probable effects of environmental fluctuations on world food supplies 

 and national energy programs. It makes its products available to 

 users in Government and the private sector. 



Its Center for Environmental Assessment Service (CEAS) was estab- 

 Ished in 1978 by merger of the Center for Experiment Design and 

 Data Analysis (CEDDA) and the Center for Climatic and Environmental 

 Analysis (CCEA). Its functions include providing data management, 

 interpretation, and analysis to meet national needs for atmospheric, 

 climatic, and marine environmental assessment. It is and has been 

 involved in data management for major research programs such as 

 BOMEX — the Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological Experiment and 

 GATE — the Global Atmospheric Research Program's Atlantic Tropical 

 Experiment. It manages SADEMS — the Salt Dome Experimental Monitor- 

 ing System, a part of the Brine Disposal Program (BDP) in the Gulf 

 of Mexico where brine disposal is necessitated by mining of salt 

 domes for oil storage facilities. SADEMS, a system installed on an 

 oil platform, reports wind data hourly to a GOES satellite. A Deep- 

 water Ports Project Office (DPPO), once in CEDDA, has now been abol- 

 ished. Personnel are also members of the Spilled Oil Response Team 



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