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ity. Discovery, assessment, harvest, and management of fishes require knowledge 
of the physics, chemistry, geology, and biology of the marine environment. The 
petroleum industry requires geological, geophysical, and biological data from the 
surface and deep sediments on the ocean floor and information concerning the 
physical, chemical, and biological properties of the water column above these 
sediments. These are but two examples of users that could benefit from having 
one marine data center to query for data. 
Problems resulting from storage of environmental data in more than one cen- 
ter have been cogently expressed by Robert M. White, Administrator of the 
Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in an article in 
“Computers and Automation” (April 1969) : 
“Data from the ocean’s surface up—sea surface temperature, waves, swell, 
and the physical measurement of the atmosphere above the sea—are handled 
by ESSA’s National Weather Records Center in Asheville, N.C. Our organiza- 
tion has also begun a very limited service concentrating on magnetic, gravity, 
seismic reflection, and bathymetric data, but this involves mainly ESSA-gen- 
erated observations. There is no single focus for geomagnetic, gravity, bathy- 
metric, or other ocean survey data. 
“Not only is there no one place to go to obtain marine data, there is not even 
one mechanism which will tell you what exists. But more important is the 
problem of collating the information. In too many areas—of which air-sea 
interaction is an outstanding example—scientists and engineers must deal with 
simultaneously processed data from different environments, with computers 
which are in separate centers, with differing formats, programs, procedures, and 
goals. The ultimate consequences of this situation are apparent.” 
As I previously mentioned the data from many marine disciplines are not 
stored by NODC. Part of this is due to restrictions of the charter which prohibit 
duplication of the functions of other official repositories, such as the Weather 
Bureau, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Naval Oceanographic Office, the 
Smithsonian Institution, and similar agencies. The NODC does interact with 
these centers to obtain data for consumers or for purposes of referral. From the 
viewpoint of a data center manager, this is inefficient. 
Separate storage can be troublesome to some users; for example to someone 
who wishes to correlate sediment transport and sub-surface currents or those 
who wish to establish the relationship between climatological events and wind 
driven currents. In the first instance he (or the NODC) would probably have to 
use at least three sources: The Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Naval Oceano- 
graphic Office, and the NODC; in the second: The National Weather Records 
Center (NWRC) and the NODC. Further, these data are all too frequently not 
processed similarly and thus may be in incompatible formats. 
I propose that a solution to these types of problems would be to establish two 
data centers in a single agency, one for meteorological and climatological data 
and the other for all other marine data. Compatibility between data bases would 
be more likely. Administrative costs would be considerably reduced within the 
state of the art in computer technology, either of the data bases could be rapidly 
accessed through remote terminals by the other or for that matter by remote 
terminals located practically any place in the Nation. 
The Commission stated “* * * the already overloaded general-purpose data 
centers should avoid involvement to the extent possible in any aspect of the data 
problem which might have logical affiliation with existing mission agencies.” 
I do not agree with this conclusion. I believe that a general purpose marine 
data center (a concept endorsed by our Advisory Board) would not detract from 
the missions of present agencies or organizational components of a NOAA. In- 
stead, I believe such a center would be of value for important National efforts, 
such as the Navy. For example, bathymetric data, once they were used to 
produce and update navigational charts, could be accessioned by the marine data 
center and therefore be more readily available for other uses. Certain fisheries 
statistics that are environmentally related (e.g., catch per unit of effort as op- 
posed to total landings) and which are Bureau of Commercial Fisheries mission 
oriented could be included. Gravity and magnetic data pertaining to marine 
areas could also be in the center. 
However, some data could be excluded; for example, certain esoteric data 
having a one-time use in research projects, purely experimental data, or data 
unique to one or a few scientists and of limited use to others. Such data, how- 
ever, should be inventoried, primarily for referral purposes. Classified data would 
also be excluded ; however, close liaison should be maintained with the gatherers 
