Ch. 7— Federal Programs for Collecting and Managing Oceanographic Data • 267 



conditions), Coastal Transition Zone Oceanogra- 

 phy (to advance understanding of upper ocean dy- 

 namics in regions influenced by the proximity of 

 a coastal boundary), and Sediment Transport 

 Events on Shelves and Slopes (to understand the 

 underlying physics of and develop a new predic- 

 tive capability for sediment erosion). Small amounts 

 of unclassified Navy EEZ data are provided to the 

 NOAA national data centers. 



State and Local Governments 



Most, if not all, coastal States are collecting and/ 

 or managing EEZ data. Though a major share of 

 their needs is being met by national centers, most 

 must obtain some data from other sources (indus- 

 try, academic laboratories, and their own facilities). 



To determine the amount and characteristics of 

 EEZ data being collected and/or managed by 

 coastal States, OTA sent questiormaires to the State 

 geologists (members of the Association of Amer- 

 ican State Geologists) of the 23 coastal States. Six- 

 teen replied. Analysis of the responses revealed that: 



• Roughly 75 percent of State data exist in ana- 

 log form. Only one (the Oregon Department 

 of Geology and Mineral Industries) collects 

 most of their data in digital form. Approxi- 

 mately 80 percent of the data are stored on pa- 

 per only. 



• The most usual time lag between sampling and 

 reporting was 1 year, ranging from 1 month 

 to 3 years. 



• Without exception, those who have data make 

 it available to others. Most of this activity is 

 in response to individual requests. 



Problems Handling State Data. — Even where 

 State digital data sets exist, transfer to other users 

 has been difficult because of lack of a standard for- 

 mat. The greatest need expressed by the States is 

 for the establishment of a system to insure a regu- 

 lar exchange of information and to encourage the 

 coordination of activities on local, regional, and na- 

 tional levels. 



Academic and Private Laboratories 



The academic laboratories vary widely in size, 

 scope, and sophistication. They range from the 10 

 major oceanographic institutions which are mem- 



bers of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions*^ to 

 the hundreds of smaller coastal and estuarine lab- 

 oratories. Many of them maintain their own data 

 archives. Those undertaJcing research sponsored by 

 the NSF Division of Ocean Sciences and and/or 

 located near the five NODC liaison offices (at 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts; Miami, Florida; La 

 Jolla, California; Seattle, Washington; and Anchor- 

 age, Alaska) routinely provide their data to NODC 

 and/or NGDC. About 20 percent of NODC s pres- 

 ent archive has come from the academic and pri- 

 vate laboratories and recently the annual percent- 

 age acquired from them is even greater — 42 percent 

 in 1985 and 35 percent in 1986. NODC staff credit 

 the National Science Foundation's Ocean Sciences 

 Division's ocean data policy as a contributing cause 

 to this increase. 



Academic and private laboratories respond to the 

 "market place" in their handling of unclassified 

 oceanographic data. Thus, the solution to data 

 management problems lies with those who control 

 the market, mainly the Federal agency sponsors of 

 academic research. Effective processing of data col- 

 lected on academic ships may depend on inclusion 

 of funds in the research project specifically for the 

 purpose of data reduction. In NSF, the Division 

 of Ocean Sciences budgets for this activity, but the 

 Division of Polar Programs does not. 



Some of the smaller laboratories have minimal 

 involvement in either using or producing EEZ data. 

 Networks for regional data exchange would help 

 to alleviate this barrier. 



Industry 



Private industry has been a relatively minor 

 source of data for the national archives, amount- 

 ing to only 4 percent of the total NODC data. How- 

 ever the present annual percentage for NODC in- 

 creased abruptly to 6 percent in 1985 and then to 

 14 percent in 1986. NODC staff attributes this in- 

 crease to recent practices by some government 

 agencies contracting for oceanographic survey work 

 (e.g., MMS) to specify that unclassified data be 

 provided to data centers. 



*'Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic 

 Institution, University of Washington, University of Miami, Lamont- 

 Doherty Geological Observatory, Texas A&M University, Univer- 

 sity of Rhode Island, Oregon State University, Hawaii Institute of 

 Geophysics, and the University of Texas. 



