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An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century - California Ocean ...

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CHAPTER 28MODERNIZING OCEAN DATAAND INFORMATION SYSTEMS<strong>Ocean</strong> and coastal research, observing, and monitoring activities are generatingnew data at ever-increasing rates—data that must eventually be analyzed, distributed,and stored. The nation’s ocean and coastal data management systemsshould be modernized and integrated to promote interdisciplinary studies andprovide useful in<strong>for</strong>mation products <strong>for</strong> policy makers, resource managers,and <strong>the</strong> general public. Better interagency planning is needed to coordinatefederal data management. <strong>An</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation management and communicationsprogram will help produce operational ocean and coastal<strong>for</strong>ecasts and disseminate in<strong>for</strong>mation products relevant to national,regional, and local needs. Ultimately, <strong>the</strong> goal should be to transitionall environmental data archiving, assimilation, modeling, andin<strong>for</strong>mation systems, which are currently divided by environmentalsectors, into a fully integrated Earth environmental data system.Turning <strong>Ocean</strong>s of Data into Useful Products<strong>Ocean</strong> and coastal data are essential <strong>for</strong> understanding marineprocesses and resources. They are <strong>the</strong> foundation <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong>science-based in<strong>for</strong>mation on which resource managers depend.Previous chapters have provided ample evidence of <strong>the</strong> importanceof data from ocean, coastal, and watershed observations; but processing<strong>the</strong>se data, and converting <strong>the</strong>m into in<strong>for</strong>mation products usefulto a broad community of end users, remains a huge challenge.In <strong>the</strong> following discussion, data refer to direct measurements collectedduring scientific research, observing, monitoring, exploration, or marine operations.In<strong>for</strong>mation, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, includes both syn<strong>the</strong>sized products developedthrough analyses of original data using statistical methods, interpolations,extrapolations, and model simulations, and interpreted products developed through incorporationof data and syn<strong>the</strong>sized products with additional in<strong>for</strong>mation that provides spatial,temporal, or issue-based context.There are two major challenges facing data managers today: <strong>the</strong> exponentially growingvolume of data, which continually strains ingestion, storage, and assimilation capabilities;and <strong>the</strong> need <strong>for</strong> timely accessibility of <strong>the</strong>se data to <strong>the</strong> user community in a varietyof useful <strong>for</strong>mats. Meeting <strong>the</strong>se challenges will require a concerted ef<strong>for</strong>t to integrate andmodernize <strong>the</strong> current management system. The ultimate goal of improved data manage-428 A N O CEAN B LUEPRINT FOR THE 21ST C ENTURY

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