[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 15, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2135-2136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-891]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


NOAA Coastal Ocean Data Workshop

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of workshop.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) of the National 
Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the 
Coastal Services Center (CSC) of the National Ocean Service (NOS) in 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the 
University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) are 
co-sponsoring a NOAA Coastal Ocean Data Workshop on March 11-13, 1997. 
The purpose of the workshop is to enhance NOAA's ability to meet the 
requirements of its customers in the coastal ocean community regarding 
data and information management; and to encourage formation of 
additional partnerships and joint ventures.

DATES: The workshop will take place on March 11-13, 1997. It will begin 
at 8:30 a.m. on the 11th, and end at 12 noon on the 13th.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at J. Seward Johnson Marine 
Education and Conference Center at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic 
Institution in Fort Pierce, FL. Parties interested in participating in 
the workshop should contact Roz Cohen (NODC) at 301-713-3267 x146 by 
close of business on January 30, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Roz Cohen (NODC) at 301-713-3267 x146.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the workshop is to enhance 
NOAA's ability to meet the requirements of its customers in the coastal 
ocean community by:

--Providing a forum for individuals in the coastal ocean community to 
present their requirements regarding data and information management, 
product development, and synthesis;
--Increasing knowledge and awareness of NOAA's activities within the 
coastal ocean community in the areas of data and information 
management, synthesis, and product development;
--Providing additional opportunities for NOAA to form partnerships and 
joint ventures with its partners in the coastal ocean community; and
--Being responsive to the new Ocean Partnership Program.

    The workshop will include about 80 participants from Federal, 
state, and local government agencies, academia, the private sector, and 
the general public. It will consist of a series of plenary and smaller 
working group sessions. The major areas addressed will be (1) 
identification of data required to address major regional and national 
coastal ocean issues and scientific research priorities; (2) 
identification of specific data management requirements: data types, 
levels of precision, national and international standards, levels of 
quality control metadata and documentation, formats, accessibility, 
timeliness, synthesis products, etc.; and (3) potential partnerships, 
joint ventures, and networking to implement the recommendations.
    The National Oceanographic Data Center is one of several 
environmental data centers managed by the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration. The headquarters office of NODC is located 
in Silver Spring, MD. There are five field offices collocated with 
major government or private oceanographic laboratories in Woods Hole, 
MA; Miami, FL; La Jolla, CA; Seattle, WA, and Honolulu, Hawaii. NODC 
houses the world's largest collection of publicly available 
oceanographic data, including coastal ocean holdings. The primary 
mission of NODC is to ensure that oceanographic data collected at great 
cost are maintained in a permanent archive that is easily accessible to 
the world science community and to other users. NODC does not conduct 
any data collection programs of its own; it serves solely as a 
repository and dissemination facility for data collected by others. In 
this capacity, NODC acquires, processes, archives, analyzes, and 
disseminates global oceanographic data; and develops analytical and 
descriptive products to meet user requirements. NODC also operates 
World Data Center-A for Oceanography and the NOAA Library.
    Each year the NODC responds to thousands of requests for 
oceanographic data and information from national and international 
customers in Federal, state, and local government agencies, the private 
sector, non-profit

[[Page 2136]]

organizations, academia, and the general public.
    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal 
Services Coastal Services Center is a coastal resource advisory center 
that draws on the expertise of NOAA and its partners to address 
critical coastal resource issues. Established in 1994, in Charlestown, 
South Carolina, the Center's mission is to identify, develop, and 
facilitate the use of technologies and information that support 
sustainable use and management of coastal resources. The Coastal 
Services Center bridges the gap between coastal scientists and resource 
managers by bringing Center staff, technologies, and outside partner 
expertise to bear on national problems related to coastal ecosystems 
and economies. The Center focuses primarily on issues of resource 
management, land use impacts, and habitat loss as well as coastal 
hazards and cumulative secondary impacts of coastal development. 
Clients of the Coastal Services Center include coastal resource 
managers, policy makers, scientists, environmental organizations, 
coastal and marine science educators, and private business people. The 
Center delivers information to the coastal resource community through 
advisory services, Internet World Wide Web service, information bases, 
summary reports, training workshops, short courses, conferences, 
seminars, fact sheets and publications.
    The Graduate School of Oceanography of the University of Rhode 
Island is one of the largest and most widely known graduate schools of 
oceanography in the United States. It has joined with NOAA as a partner 
in establishing a national coastal data network because it has 
particular strengths in coastal oceanography and in distributed ocean 
data systems, has one of the largest marine science libraries in the 
world, and is the location of the Sea Grant Depository. The University 
has been a national Sea Grant College since 1971, and in 1989 it was 
designated a NOAA Center of Excellence in coastal marine science.

    Dated: January 9, 1997.
Ronald L. Fauquet,
Deputy Director, National Oceanographic Data Center.
[FR Doc. 97-891 Filed 1-14-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-M