An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental

Data and Information Management

March 2006

NOAA’s Environmental Data Management:

Integrating the Pieces
NOAA’S VISION

An informed society that uses a comprehensive understanding of the role of the

oceans, coasts, and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the best social

and economic decisions

NOAA’S MISSION

To understand and predict changes in Earth’s environment and conserve and

manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation’s economic, social, and

environmental needs

NOAA’S MISSION GOALS

 Protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through

an ecosystem approach to management

 Understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s ability to plan

and respond

 Serve society’s needs for weather and water information

 Support the Nation’s commerce with information for safe, efficient, and

environmentally sound transportation

 Provide critical support for NOAA’s Mission
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management iii

Contents

Executive Summary ....................................................................................1

Part 1: Data and Information Management Assessment ......................... 7

Ecosystems .......................................................................................... 11

Climate..................................................................................................19

Weather and Water...............................................................................27

Commerce and Transportation .............................................................35

Supporting NOAA’s Mission ..................................................................43

Part 2: Improvement Strategies ...............................................................51

Conclusion.................................................................................................65

Appendices

Appendix A. Legislative Mandates ........................................................67

Appendix B. Template for Assessing Data Management,

 Archival, and Distribution .................................................................70

Appendix C. References .......................................................................74

Appendix D. Acronyms ..........................................................................75
iv NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 1

Commerce and

Transportation

Executive Summary

An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and

Information Management delivers (1) an enterprise-wide

review of NOAA’s current data management, archive, and

distribution capabilities, and (2) a plan to address

challenges over the coming decade. The report details

the successes and continuing challenges NOAA faces in

the management of environmental and geospatial data

and information acquired to support its mission.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made

improvements to the planning, acquisition, archive, and dissemination of Earth environmental

data, including data on the atmosphere, ocean, and land. NOAA adopted a structure of four

Mission Goals and a Support Mission Goal around which work is planned and organized. NOAA

created an enterprise-wide method for planning and evaluating observation and data requirements, and

established the NOAA Observing Systems Council (NOSC) to oversee observing systems, data, and

information management and planning enterprise-wide. The NOSC formed the Data Management

Committee (DMC) to coordinate the development and implementation of data management policy

across NOAA. The DMC addresses issues and opportunities requiring coordination among NOAA’s

Goals and Line Offices, and sponsored this report.

NOAA data, products, and services touch the lives of Americans on a daily basis.

NOAA is bringing together the many pieces of Earth’s environmental puzzle in an integrated and

informative manner. NOAA’s lifeblood is more than 300 environmental observation parameters

acquired through its satellites, ships, and other observing systems. The Nation depends on these

environmental observations and the systems that collect, process, manage, archive, and disseminate

these data.

Excellent data management is a core business of NOAA. NOAA is committed to collecting

and providing the highest quality data, delivered in a secure and efficient manner. NOAA maintains a

stable, long-term archive for future generations. Investments must focus on the people, tools, and

technology, and on an integrated approach to observation and data management. NOAA serves a

diverse set of users and contributes to a wide range of benefits for our people, our economy, and the

planet on which we live.
2 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean

resources through an ecosystem approach to management

Understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s

ability to plan and respond

Serve society’s needs for weather and water information

Support the Nation’s commerce with information for safe,

efficient, and environmentally sound transportation

Provide critical support for NOAA’s Mission

NOAA’s Mission Goals

In accordance with Public Law

102-567 Section 106, NOAA

completed an assessment of its data

and information systems in August

2005. Since the last assessment in

2003, NOAA made significant

changes in our business philosophy

and developed an overarching strategy

for integrated observation and data

management. Based on stakeholder

input and internal assessments of our

mandates and mission, NOAA adopted

a program-oriented structure consisting

of four Mission Goals and a mission

Support Goal around which the agency

plans and organizes all of its work.

NOAA’s Line and Staff Offices

achieve these Goals through activities

in 45 Programs. The domains of the

four Mission Goals are interrelated,

sharing common data, science and

technology challenges, and

stakeholder interest. Each Goal must

consider its relationship with the

others in developing and

implementing plans and Programs.

Similarly, the Support Goal provides

vital NOAA-wide services in support

of all Goals, such as environmental

satellite services, which include some

of the greatest data management

challenges.

In the two years since the last

Report, NOAA made improvements

to the planning, acquisition, archive,

and dissemination of Earth’s

environmental data. Under the

auspices of the NOSC and DMC,

NOAA established additional

resources focused on corporate-wide

data management and development of

a single “system of systems” for

accessing NOAA environmental data.

A robust and secure Information

Technology (IT) architecture is an

essential component of NOAA’s

integrated data system. NOAA

developed an IT Architecture Plan

which provides a policy basis for the

acquisition and use of IT resources.

NOAA established a Data

Management Integration Team

(DMIT) to guide the implementation

of this system. The NOSC, DMC, and

DMIT, working with NOAA’s Chief

Information Officer and Technical

Director for Integrated Data

Management, are currently defining

NOAA’s integrated observation and

data management system.

Data Management Integration Team (DMIT)

Data Management Committee (DMC)

NOAA Observing Systems Council (NOSC)

The principal advisory body for NOAA's Earth observation and data

management activities and the principal coordinating

body for NOAA to the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO)

NOSC agent to coordinate the development and implementation of data

management policy across NOAA, provide clear guidance for NOAA data

management, and provide the NOSC the information it needs to integrate data

management with the NOAA Observing Systems Architecture

Provide expertise and advice on the near-term (5 year) actions needed

to write and implement a plan for integrating data management within NOAA

NOAA Executive Council NOAA Executive Panel
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 3

2005 Data Management Assessment Summary

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach

the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.

NOAA’s leadership role in the

United States Group on Earth

Observations (USGEO) and the

intergovernmental Group on Earth

Observations (GEO) is strengthened

by its internal efforts to develop an

integrated data management system.

NOAA has extensive cooperative

efforts with other federal agencies,

with international partners, and with

private industry. Future efforts are

expected to take place under the

umbrella of cooperation being

facilitated by USGEO and GEO, using

complementary tools and processes to

share environmental information.

NOAA conducted an assessment

of the current state of its data

management practices. Based on

criteria from Public Law 102-567,

NOAA assembled 12 survey questions

focused on an holistic, end-to-end

observation and data management

approach, addressing the five data

management, archive, and

distribution areas identified in the

Public Law. The survey was

organized around broad data and

information management themes: (1)

observation acquisition and

transmission; (2) scientific data

management; and, (3) archive and

access. The survey also addressed

contingency planning. NOAA

assessed end-to-end data and

information management capabilities

for 44 of the 45 programs in the

NOAA program structure. The 45th

program, addressing tsunamis, was

established in June 2005 and is

currently completing its data

management assessment.

The assessment identified

common areas of success and

need across NOAA Goals. Based on

these results, an End-to-End

Environmental Data Management

Assessment Summary was created.

The Summary presents the status of

data management activities within the

NOAA Goals; however, it is not

normalized for differences in Program

responses. No value was assigned to

“significant” or “incremental”

increases in resources. A green cell

indicates the Goal is accomplishing

100 percent of the required activity or

is able to do so with current resources.

A yellow cell indicates the activity is

partially accomplished or an

incremental increase in resources is

required to reach the 100 percent

level. A red cell indicates the activity

is not accomplished or significant new

resources are required. A fully

successful Goal acquires high-quality

data; analyzes, evaluates, documents,

and preserves these data; and provides

timely information and products to the

end users of the services. The

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Ecosystems PP N

Climate FF F

Weather &

Water P P P

Commerce &

Transportation

F P P

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

NOAA Mission Goals
4 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

assessments, when combined with

strategic planning on the enterprise

level, provide NOAA with an

integrated end-to-end approach for

Earth environmental data and

information management.

Based on the results of the selfassessment, some areas stand out as

needing attention enterprise-wide.

NOAA must meet the expanding realtime responsibilities at the current

high level while addressing challenges

in:

• managing the increasing volume and

diversity of data;

• extending and filling in the gaps in

environmental data records;

• improving accessibility to the longterm archive; and,

• enabling integration of quality

observations and products.

These activities all depend on:

• improved descriptions of data,

formats, and processing steps.

Most Programs indicated that

observations are well calibrated and

validated, and the related products

undergo quality review based on

accepted research or statistical

methods. NOAA is doing a better job

of collecting and verifying

environmental observations, and

processing and transmitting these

observations than four years ago.

In 2001, NOAA assessed its ability to

plan for, collect, ingest, catalog,

validate, store, access, and migrate

data by major data stream. Comparing

the number of red, yellow, and green

cells from the 2001 assessment to

2005, one sees a decrease in the

percent of red cells and an increase in

the percent of yellow and green cells.

These advances are due in part to

ongoing modernization programs such

as the Advanced Weather Interactive

Processing System (AWIPS) and the

National Weather Service (NWS)

Telecommunication Operations

Center (TOC).

The long-term NOAA objective

is integrated information services

delivery. Work in this area is

underway today and will require

concerted effort for years to come.

Customer needs drive the integration

of NOAA information across

disciplines, timescales, and federal,

state, and local agencies. NOAA

should provide products, services, and

prediction capabilities that deliver

specific regional and local

environmental information at all time

scales relevant to decision makers. In

the next few years, NOAA will take

steps to accomplish this goal.

NOAA’s near-term data

management goals are:

• Identify and address integration

gaps. NOAA is in the process of

identifying technological and

scientific integration gaps. We will

address these gaps and enable

integrated access to multi-discipline

data and coupled model results so

the scientific community can

perform systematic comparisons.

• Create interoperability across

NOAA. NOAA can foster

interoperability by integrating key

capabilities, loosely combining

legacy systems while developing

new ways to support access to

valuable data assets. NOAA will

invest in developing sustainable

interoperability across the federal

government and partner

organizations.

Not accomplished, or significant resources required

Partially accomplished or incremental increase in resources required

Able to accomplish with existing resources

2001 2005

39% 17%

28%

33% 49%

34%
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 5

• Develop and adopt standards for

format and terminology. NOAA

subscribes to the value of, and need

for, corporate standards. NOAA will

define a process for adopting

standards that is open and inclusive,

favoring existing information

technology and scientific standards.

• Integrate measurements, data,

and products. NOAA will provide

easier and more cost-effective

access to all of its data and

information. NOAA will ensure that

data and products are collected and

managed in accordance with

policies, procedures, and standards

that support and enhance

integration.

• Examine future data management

requirements. Data management

consists of two major activities

conducted in coordination: (1) data

management services, and (2) data

stewardship. NOAA will examine

data management requirements and

develop an enterprise plan for

managing the Nation’s

environmental data assets.

As we strive to understand the

complexity of Earth’s systems,

scientists from various disciplines

across the globe are engaged in large,

multi-national, and multi-disciplinary

research teams. Rapid development in

communication technologies provides

access to national data archives and

real-time observations.

Communication technologies and data

management techniques will continue

to evolve, supporting increased

demands for online access to largearray data. These data are an essential

component of the enhanced spatial

and temporal resolution models now

feasible with improved

supercomputers.

However, proper data stewardship is

not all about systems. It involves an

understanding of the data’s value by

the scientific community and

thoughtful management of this

information. Both skilled stewards

and smart technology are necessary to

manage the Nation’s environmental

information heritage. Without the

human element, we will be data rich

and information poor.

Based on the data management

assessment, NOAA is better

prepared now to ensure the reliable

and efficient flow of quality data from

observation source to real-time

products. NOAA faces ongoing

challenges in managing increasing

diversity and volumes of data,

enabling data integration, and

addressing real-time dissemination

demands. Significant challenges

remain in data reprocessing and

rescue, essential for extending the

environmental record. NOAA is in the

initial stages of developing and

implementing an integrated data

management system, based on

common IT architecture and common

processes. This will address many of

the challenges identified in the

assessment. However, proper data

stewardship also involves an

understanding of the data’s scientific

value and thoughtful management for

future use.

NOAA is bringing together

the many pieces of Earth’s environmental puzzle

in an integrated and informative manner.

NOAA’s Near-term Data Management Goals

 Identify and address integration gaps

 Create interoperability across NOAA

 Develop and adopt standards for format and terminology

 Integrate measurements, data, and products

 Examine future data management requirements
6 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NOAA’s Mission Goals

Data Management Successes 2003–2005

• NOAA delivers more than 6.5 million free electronic navigational charts online in

digital format.

• The Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System provides centralized data acquisition

and dissemination for water levels, currents, and other oceanographic and

meteorological data from U.S. bays and harbors.

• Improved Space Weather Solar X-ray imager data and product processing provides

real-time services and near real-time archive, improving access and preventing data

loss.

• The National Digital Forecast Database provides 24-hour digital access to seamless

gridded weather forecasts and products nationwide.

• NOAA has new environmental satellites supporting regional and national nowcasting

and warnings, as well as global long-range environmental monitoring.

• NOAA provides online geographic information systems data and tools for critical fish

habitat in the southeast and Gulf of Mexico, improving ability to respond to the Clean

Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act.

• NOAA modernizes its fleet, both ship and aircraft, to acquire mission-critical data

such as tsunami monitoring data, and also addresses facility improvements.

• NOAA and the Federal Communications Commission extends NOAA Weather Radio

to an all-hazards radio network, now sending natural and environmental hazardous

event warnings and national security messages.

• The Climate Data Modernization Program enters its sixth year of rescuing at-risk

data, extending environmental data records, and improving access to NOAA data.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 7

Commerce and

Transportation

Part 1: Data and Information

Assessment

Data management is a comprehensive, end-to-end process that includes the acquisition, quality control,

validation, reprocessing, storage, retrieval, dissemination, and archive of data. This complexity of effort, along with

technological advancements, requires adjustments of the data management process over time.

Internally, we must connect NOAA’s observing

systems and data . . . and we must employ a

consistent data management strategy that facilitates

data discovery and access for our users.

Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. USN (ret)

NOAA Administrator

NOAA 2007 Annual Guidance Memorandum

Protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean

resources through an ecosystem approach to management

Understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s

ability to plan and respond

Serve society’s needs for weather and water information

Support the Nation’s commerce with information for safe,

efficient, and environmentally sound transportation

Provide critical support for NOAA’s Mission

NOAA’s Mission Goals

Every two years, in accordance with

Public Law 102-567 Section 106 (see

Appendix A), the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) completes an assessment of

its data and information systems. From

the results of this assessment, NOAA

then assembles modernization and

improvement objectives for the 10-

year period that follows. The

assessment and future objectives are

provided to the U.S. Congress through

the Secretary of Commerce in brief

publication form. NOAA’s Report to

Congress on Data and Information

Management, 2005 was submitted in

the first quarter of 2006.

Due to the outline restrictions of the

Report to Congress, much of the

important information regarding the

assessment process was not included

in that publication. In 2006, NOAA’s

Data Management Committee (DMC)

requested that an additional, detailed

report be completed for their activities

in coordinating data management

policy. Using the complete assessment

results, the DMC could more clearly

address data issues and opportunities

across NOAA. An Assessment of

NOAA’s Environmental Data and

Information Management provides the

DMC with information previously not

published within the Report to

Congress.

NOAA’s Program Structure

Since the previous assessment in

2003, NOAA has adopted a programoriented structure consisting of four

Mission Goals and a mission Support

Goal. NOAA plans and organizes all

its work around these Goals. NOAA’s

Mission Goals were defined in the

NOAA Strategic Plan (2004). Each

Goal is a key component of the federal

government’s business structure for
8 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NOAA’s Program Structure

Note: Matrix programs are identified by blue italic text.

Habitat

Corals

Coastal and Marine

Resources

Protected Species

Fisheries Management

Aquaculture

Enforcement

Ecosystem Observations

Ecosystem Research

Climate Observations and

Analysis

Climate Forcing

Climate Predictions and

Projections

Climate and Ecosystems

Regional Decision

Support

Local Forecasts and

Warnings

Coasts, Estuaries, and

Oceans

Space Weather

Hydrology–Rivers, Lakes,

and Floods

Air Quality

Environmental Modeling

Weather Water Science,

Technology, and

Infusion Program

Tsunami

Marine Transportation

Systems

Aviation Weather

Marine Weather

Geodesy

NOAA Emergency

Response

Commercial Remote

Sensing Licensing

Surface Weather

Geostationary Satellite

Acquisition

Polar Satellite Acquisition

Satellite Services

Aircraft Replacement

Fleet Replacement

Marine Operations and

Maintenance

Aircraft Services

NOAA Headquarters

Line Office Headquarters

Homeland Security

Administrative Services

Financial Services

Workforce Management

Acquisitions and Grants

Information Technology

Services

Facilities

the benefit and protection of the

Nation’s general population. The

domains of the four Mission Goals are

interrelated, sharing common science

and technology challenges and

stakeholder interest. NOAA’s Line and

Staff Offices achieve these Goals

through activities in 45 Programs.

Twenty of these Programs are

explicitly designed as matrix

programs, involving activities of

multiple Line or Staff Offices.

Each Goal considers its relationship

with the others in developing and

implementing plans and programs.

Similarly, the Support Goal provides

vital NOAA-wide services in support

of all Goals, such as environmental

satellite services, which include some

of the greatest data management

challenges. Therefore, while a given

activity may be described under only

Ecosystems Climate Weather and Water

Commerce and

Transportation

Supporting NOAA’s

Mission

one Goal, it may rely on data collected

and processed by different Goals.

Assessment Process

An Assessment Team was

organized in mid-October 2004 to

coordinate the Report to Congress on

Data and Information Management.

The Team, consisting of

representatives from each NOAA

Mission Goal and Line Office, held a

series of discussions to clarify

standards and procedures for the

assessment. The Team referred to P.L.

102-567 (Appendix A) for guidance.

The Public Law requires that NOAA

assess whether there is adequate

capacity within its agency to:

1. manage, archive, and disseminate

environmental data and

information collected and

processed, or expected to be

collected and processed, by NOAA

and other appropriate departments

and agencies;

2. establish, develop, and maintain

information bases, including

necessary management systems,

which will promote consistent,

efficient, and compatible transfer

and use of data;

3. develop effective interfaces among

the environmental data and

information systems of NOAA and

other appropriate departments and

agencies;

4. develop and use nationallyaccepted formats and standards for

data collected by various national

and international sources; and,

5. integrate and interpret data from

different sources to produce
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 9

information that can be used by

decision makers in developing

policies that effectively respond to

national and global environmental

concerns.

Based on these criteria, the

Assessment Team assembled twelve

survey questions focused on a holistic,

end-to-end observation and data

management approach (see Appendix

B). The questions were organized

around four broad themes of data and

information management: (1)

observation acquisition and

transmission; (2) scientific data

management; (3) archive and access;

and, (4) contingency planning.

In December 2004, the Assessment

Team presented the survey to all

Program Managers within the NOAA

Mission Goals. The Managers,

through the survey questions and with

additional free-form responses,

discussed data management

capabilities and needs for their

specific Program areas. The individual

assessments were coordinated by the

Assessment Team to ensure

consistency throughout the process.

Assessment Results

In the Spring of 2005, the Team

worked with results from the surveys,

noting trends across NOAA. The

assessment surveys identified common

areas of successes and areas of needs

within NOAA Programs. They also

identified common areas of successes

and needs across Goals. A 2005 Data

Management Assessment Summary

chart (above) was compiled for

general analysis, based on each Goal’s

summary chart. The charts present the

status of data management activities

across NOAA as of August 2005. The

assessment charts are color-coded

based on overall response to survey

questions.

• A green cell indicates that the Goal

is accomplishing 100% of the

required activity or is able to do so

with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the

activity is partially accomplished or

an incremental increase in resources

is required to reach the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity

is not accomplished or that

significant new resources are

required.

• Five-Year Plan columns are F, plan

completed and in place; P, partly

completed; and N, no plan in place.

2005 Data Management Assessment Summary

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach

the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Ecosystems PP N

Climate FF F

Weather &

Water P P P

Commerce &

Transportation

F P P

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

NOAA Mission Goals
10 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

While assessments were undertaken

with the assistance of a few

individuals involved in the definition

of data management activities, no

attempt has been made to normalize

the assessment charts for differences

in Program or Goal responses. No

values were assigned to “significant”

or “incremental” increases in

resources. The charting method is

simply a tool to aid in overall data

management assessment.

The following pages address the

assessment of each NOAA Goal, and

include a Goal assessment chart based

on survey results. Successes and

challenges for individual NOAA Goals

are discussed within the narrative.

The assessments, when combined with

strategic planning on the enterprise,

national, and international level,

provide an integrated end-to-end

approach for Earth environmental data

NOAA’s people and infrastructure are at

the heart of what NOAA is and does.

Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. USN (ret)

NOAA Administrator

Statement to U.S. Senate

Committee on Science and Transportation

May 2002

and information management at

NOAA.

Throughout this data management

exercise, the NOAA Assessment Team

discovered a spirit of cooperation

among colleagues in all of NOAA’s

Programs and Goals. The Team wishes

to acknowledge this, and point out that

our competent, enthusiastic people are

key to successful data and information

management.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 11

NOAA Mission Goal:

Ecosystems

Protect, restore, and manage

the use of coastal and ocean

resources through an ecosystem

approach to management

• HABITAT • CORALS • COASTAL AND MARINE RESOURCES

 • PROTECTED SPECIES • FISHERIES MANAGEMENT • AQUACULTURE • ENFORCEMENT

• ECOSYSTEM OBSERVATIONS • ECOSYSTEM RESEARCH

An ecosystem is a geographically-specified system of organisms, theenvironment, and the processes that control its dynamics. People are also an

integral part of an ecosystem. NOAA has been tasked to be the lead federal agency

in the study and preservation of coastal and ocean ecosystems.

NOAA’s Ecosystems Mission Goal works to achieve a balance between the use

and protection of coastal and ocean resources, ensuring their health, sustainability,

and vitality for today’s and tomorrow’s generations.

Our scientists, specialists, and external partners contribute to a world-class

expertise in many fields—oceanography, marine ecology, marine archeology,

fisheries management, conservation biology, natural resource management, and risk

assessment. This cooperative effort is leading to improved regional and

international ecosystem stewardship.

Ecosystems health is critical to the overall health of the U.S. economy. We are

committed to the belief that it is possible to balance sustainable economic

development, and healthy, functioning coastal and ocean ecosystems.
12 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Commerce and

Transportation

Habitat

• protect coastal, marine, and Great Lakes

habitat

• improve the quality and increase the

quantity of restoration of NOAA trust

resources

Corals

• preserve, sustain, and restore coral reef

ecosystems

Coastal and Marine Resources

• understand and manage complex

environmental, social, and economic

dynamics affecting coastal and marine

ecosystems

Protected Species

• conservation of species through

implementation of the Endangered

Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection

Act, and other statutes and international

treaties and conventions

Fisheries Management

• maintain productive stocks important to

commercial, recreational, and

subsistence fisheries

Aquaculture

• develop a science- and technologybased regulatory framework for a wellmanaged and productive U.S. marine

aquaculture industry

NOAA Ecosystems Programs

Enforcement

• ensure compliance with laws and

regulations promulgated to conserve and

protect living marine resources

Ecosystem Observations

• conduct monitoring and observing

activities

• develop resource status assessments

and forecasts over time

Ecosystem Research

• develop technologies that will lead to new

or expanded use of ocean and coastal

resources

Overview

Within the Ecosystem Goal, data

are required to protect, restore, and

manage the use of coastal and ocean

resources. In the two years since the

last assessment, the NOAA

Ecosystem Goal made progress

toward an ecosystem approach

management model, adopting modern

information technology, and the use

of geographic information system

(GIS) tools to meet geospatial

requirements. Ecosystem Programs

are advancing Internet-based

technologies for data acquisition,

information management, derived

products, and data delivery. The nine

Programs of the Ecosystem Goal have

reviewed, and are in the process of

updating, their respective data

activities, and assessing

accomplishments, needs, and

challenges.

Of the nine Ecosystem Programs,

eight use original data to develop

information and build products

fundamental to understanding the

coastal and marine environment.

Derived products are used for

developing coastal and marine

decision support tools, and providing

forecasts and analyses needed for

managing coastal and marine

resources. With the advent of

expanded data observations, data

acquisition, and emerging computer

and Internet technology, NOAA is

collecting an ever-increasing amount

of data. Expanded holdings present

challenges and opportunities for the

agency as it implements a matrix

approach to data management across

Programs, Goals, and Line Offices.

Note: NOAA matrix programs are

identified by blue italic text.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 13

2005 Data Management Assessment

NOAA faces significant challenges

related to acquiring, describing, and

archiving the biological and

ecological data required to protect,

restore, and manage living coastal and

ocean resources. As indicated by the

Ecosystem Goal data management

assessment chart, Program Managers

identified numerous challenges in data

management. The survey suggests

there is insufficient data management

capability to support Ecosystem

Programs in their outcomes,

strategies, and performance measures.

This supports, in part, the review of

the data management capabilities

section found in Ecosystem Program

Baseline Assessments (PBA) for

Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 conducted by

the NOAA Observing Systems

Architecture System Team. The PBA

identified three Programs deficient in

data management capabilities. The

PBA described the other six Programs

“unclear” as to whether data

management capabilities could be met.

The current data management review

indicates the need for modern,

integrated data management within the

Programs and activities of the

Ecosystem Goal. Results of the data

management survey are a valuable

tool for the DMC as they develop and

implement a comprehensive and

integrated NOAA data management

plan. The plan needs to address the

interoperability of different (legacy)

data management operating systems.

Any implemented system must

support the Integrated Ocean

Observing System (IOOS) Data

Management and Communications

Architecture.

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Habitat PN N

Corals PP N

Coastal and

and Marine

Resources

P F P

Protected

Species P P P

Fisheries

Management P P

PN N

Enforcement P P N/A P

Ecosystem

Observations P P P

Ecosystem

Research P P P

Ecosystem Goal Programs

Contingency

Planning

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Aquaculture

Archive & Access

N/A

N/A

P
14 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Observation Acquisition

and Transmission

The assessment chart shows that

Observation Acquisition and

Transmission within the Ecosystem

Goal is a continuing challenge. None

of the Programs have fully developed

five-year plans in place. Resources are

stretched as various Programs attempt

to implement the numerous data

collection requirements imposed by

existing and expanding mandates. A

similar circumstance exists with

regard to maintenance and monitoring

capabilities. Programs replying to the

survey indicated a need for additional

resources and partnerships to collect

observations in a manner sufficient to

meet requirements. Other Programs

(e.g., Ecosystems Observations) have

documented protocols for conducting

its major resource assessment surveys

(e.g., bottom trawl surveys, acoustic

collections) to assure consistency and

to evaluate observational biases.

The Collect and Rescue column

reflects significant issues NOAA faces

in identifying, cataloging, and

rescuing historical data sets. For

example, NOAA Fisheries has a

number of paper-based data

collections that are in need of

digitizing. There also are a number of

early collections stored as digital

records on deteriorating media

requiring rescue. NOAA works

closely with academic institutions,

state partners, and foreign nations to

recover data. Ecosystem data rescue

has been limited to the occasional ad

hoc research program.

Overall, the Ecosystem Goal Team

collects high quality data, provides

critical analysis and information, and

develops quality products for the

stakeholder. At the insular level,

certain Programs have shown good to

mixed success in meeting data

management requirements (e.g.,

Coastal Marine Resources, Corals,

and Habitat). However, with respect

to individual data management and

services, the majority of Ecosystem

Programs are falling short of meeting

100% of data management

requirements. This is due in part to

expanding and new mandates, often

without the associated resources to

meet requirements. Exacerbating this

situation are legacy data management

systems that may not support

interoperability across Programs and/

or Line Offices. Additional resources

are necessary to fully implement

acquisition programs and ensure

seamless connectivity or

interoperability to other NOAA data

management systems (e.g.,

observational data from IOOS, and

non-NOAA data holdings).

In summary, a common theme among

the Ecosystem Goal Programs is the

need for additional planning and

resources to implement fully their

Observation Acquisition and

Transmission capabilities. These

capabilities could be greatly improved

through integrating planning, data

maintenance and monitoring, and

historical data collection and rescue

efforts among the nine Programs.

Scientific Data

Management

Scientific data management

within the Goal is characterized by

The National Status and Trends (NS&T) Program, managed by the Center for Coastal

Monitoring and Assessment, has succeeded in improving data management for the

program, and the format in which data are delivered. The Program has been in existence

since 1984, and staff have now centralized the majority of the data and many

assessments. This required both an internal and external organization effort (including

contractors). The information is now available to the public via an online data portal.

Previously, information was only available in spreadsheet form. The effort to recover

historical data is ongoing, and the Web site will continue to be modified to meet users’

needs.

NS&T was established to determine the status of environmental quality in our Nation’s

coastal and estuarine waters by monitoring contaminants in sediments, benthic fish, and

bivalve tissues. The long term nature of the dataset also allows scientists to track changes

in coastal environmental quality over time.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 15

Programs that are meeting the full

capacity of the stated requirements

with the existing resources (e.g.,

Coastal and Marine Resources), to

Programs that require substantial

additional resources to undertake

activities (e.g., Aquaculture).

Referring to the assessment chart, the

status of scientific data management

appears better poised to fulfill NOAA

mission requirements than observation

acquisition and transmission.

Some interesting characteristics

emerge through this qualitative

Program summary. (1) With the

exception of the Habitat and

Aquaculture Programs, five-year

planning is ongoing for most

Programs. (2) Most Program

Managers are satisfied that their

calibration and validation efforts are

sufficient with current resources. (3)

Five of the nine Programs are

concerned that appropriate formats

are not in place, and that additional

planning and resources will be

necessary to standardize formats. (4)

While four of the nine Programs are

developing appropriate metadata with

current resources, all but one of the

remaining Programs will require

substantial additional resources to

develop appropriate standardized

metadata. Metadata are “data about

data.” The term refers to any data

used to aid the identification,

description, and location of

networked electronic resources.

Some of the problems described by

the nine Programs are due to

historical and on-going collaboration

with outside federal and state

agencies, universities and research

laboratories, and other nongovernmental organizations. In these

cases, NOAA presently has little or no

control over data calibration,

formatting, or even metadata

standards. Therefore, it will be

necessary for the NOAA scientific

data management system to be flexible

in its incorporation of different

calibration/validation standards,

formats, and metadata standards.

Formatting and metadata requirements

need incremental increases in

resources, but several Programs

continue to improve this process and

offer formats defined by the customer

base and stakeholder input. While

individual Programs may not be

capable of fully implementing their

entire data management strategy, the

Annual visits to the New Millennium

Observatory at Axial Volcano have provided

the interdisciplinary team with a large

amount of data to manage. Each year a

cruise report is compiled using dive logs

and maps, sample and experiment

information, and discipline summaries. All

the cruise-related data are input into a GIS

and available for the next team.

Once processed, the data are brought into

several programs for geographical

referencing and analysis. Maps can be

created using a variety of programs,

providing a way to geographically display

several types of data at the same time. The

GIS user can query the database several

ways, including by at-site samples collected

for all years, or all at-site instruments

deployed and recovered on a particular

year.
16 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

quality of derived products is

excellent. Geospatially enabling data

collected by the Ecosystem Goal is a

high priority, particularly for the

Habitat, Protected Species,

Ecosystems Observations, and

Ecosystems Research Programs. In

addition, large and expanding

mandates with limited or no funding,

coupled with the lack of

interoperability with respect to data

management, have created shortfalls

and gaps in meeting all data

management functions. This is

particularly true for fishery dependent

and fishery independent assessment

programs.

In summary, there is a range of

capability among the nine Programs.

Across the Ecosystems Goal,

resources for scientific data

management are not evenly distributed

among the Programs. Standardization

of planning, calibrating, validating,

and formatting is necessary.

Ecosystems Programs must develop

metadata and metadata catalogs within

a NOAA framework. Ongoing NOAA

DMC planning should be augmented

to encourage consistency among the

Ecosystem Goal Programs, flexible

incorporation of non-native formats

originating from outside sources, and

standardization of all programplanning approaches.

Archive and Access

Archive and access resources

appear to be unevenly distributed.

Several Ecosystem Programs will

require substantial resources directed

to develop and implement a five-year

archive and access plan. The Habitat,

Fisheries Management, Enforcement,

and Ecosystem Observations

Programs will require an incremental

increase for preservation, discovery

and dissemination, while Protected

Species and Aquaculture need

substantial additional resources. Three

of the nine Programs lack a five-year

plan. Only three Programs have

sufficient resources available for longterm preservation of data. Three of the

Programs have sufficient resources

and capabilities for data discovery

while three need substantial additional

resources. As shown in the “Access/

Disseminate” column, observations

and related products are available

online for only three Programs. Some

Programs (e.g., Fishery Management

and Enforcement) have substantial

proprietary data, requiring limited

access and dissemination of data

(fishery management and law

enforcement officials versus the

public). Substantial ecosystem data,

within NOAA and from other sources,

are archived in numerous digital

formats, on paper, and other

NOAA’s National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) has

made several notable advances in ecosystem and habitat data

management. GIS tools and online GIS mapping capabilities were

developed for NOAA Fisheries to manage critical habitat data in the

southeast and Gulf of Mexico regions, and to display relevant data

layers online. NCDDC also developed online mapping and data access

capabilities for NOAA’s Galveston Bay Laboratory. These capabilities

improve NOAA’s ability to respond to the Clean Water Act, Endangered

Species Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act consultations, and

provide gateways to data and information on Galveston Bay essential

fish habitat. In addition, NCDDC also developed metadata tools, realtime and near real-time online access to harmful algal bloom data, and

improved access to National Estuarine Research Reserve system-wide

habitat monitoring program data.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 17

deteriorating media. Since rescue and

long-term preservation of these data

have tremendous potential for

developing better understanding of

ecosystems, populations, and species

trends and cycles, it is important that

NOAA develop integrated long-term

planning for data archive and access.

Ecosystem data must be assessed for

data rescue, either through new

dedicated resources, or through the

existing Climate Database

Modernization Program (CDMP).

Development and implementation of

Archive and Access functions within

ecosystem data management will

result in the sustained preservation of

past observations, analyses, products

and services. Improved capability to

discover, access, and deliver these

data and information ensures historical

data will assist in sound decisionmaking within the Ecosystem Goal.

Efforts at archiving, cataloging, and

delivery of historical data,

information, and products are

generally not well defined.

Certain Programs (e.g., Coral, Habitat,

Coastal and Marine Resources, and

Ecosystems Research) have made

significant progress in their archive

and access activities. However, there

are limited resources, expanding

program mandates, and only earlystage integration of “Centers of Data,”

discrete NOAA data nodes, and the

established NOAA Data Centers.

These challenges impair the capability

to provide seamless archive, access,

and delivery of ecosystem data to

NOAA, other federal agencies, state

agencies, stakeholders, and the public.

Advances in information technology

data have enhanced data management

functions within the Goal. Advances

include data storage, Web services,

collaborative Web tools for discovery

and display, and the addition of

geographic information system

mapping services.

Contingency Planning

Of the nine Programs within the

Ecosystem Goal, two (Corals and Law

NOAA 2005–2010 Strategic Plan

Long-Term Ecosystems Strategies:

• Engage and collaborate with our partners to achieve regional objectives by

delineating regional ecosystems, forming regional ecosystem councils, and

implementing cooperative strategies to improve regional ecosystem health.

• Manage uses of ecosystems by applying scientifically sound observations,

assessments, and research findings to ensure the sustainable use of resources

and to balance competing uses of coastal and marine ecosystems.

• Improve resource management by advancing our understanding of ecosystems

through better simulation and predictive models. Build and advance the

capabilities of an ecological component of the NOAA global environmental

observing system to monitor, assess, and predict national and regional

ecosystem health, as well as to gather information consistent with established

social and economic indicators.

• Develop coordinated regional and national outreach and education efforts to

improve public understanding and involvement in stewardship of coastal and

marine ecosystems.

• Engage in technological and scientific exchange with our domestic and

international partners to protect, restore, and manage marine resources within

and beyond the Nation’s borders.

Enforcement) have fully implemented

contingency plans and are operating

with available resources. The

Ecosystem Research, Ecosystem

Observations, Fisheries Management,

Protected Species, and Coastal and

Marine Resources Programs have

contingency planning in development,

requiring an incremental increase in

resources to complete. Contingency

planning is not applicable to the

Habitat and Aquaculture Programs.
18 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Summary and 10-Year

Objectives

Effective ecosystem approach to

management requires a coherent,

integrative effort incorporating diverse

NOAA data systems; each may

possess different technologies and

varied capabilities. Efficient

ecosystem data management and data

services require an enterprise data

policy and infrastructure that crosses

Mission Goals, Line Offices,

Programs, and Program components.

Based on our review of the NOAA

Ecosystem Goal input, it seems clear

that the Goal’s nine Programs are in

early stage development toward a

more integrated, consistent approach

to data management and access.

Resources allocated to Programs are

unevenly distributed, and Program

planning ranges from none to

complete.

There is an historical paucity of data

management integration among the

Ecosystem Goal Programs. The

Programs suffer from inconsistent

data formatting, duplication of effort,

issues pertaining to data ownership

and proprietary data sharing, and a

customer base that is limited to

historical, and perhaps even local,

levels. Also, due to the need for better

integration and coordination among

Programs, as well as the need to adapt

quickly to rapidly advancing

computer and Internet capabilities, the

NOAA Ecosystem Goal is not

currently capable of responding to a

much larger potential customer base

while better serving its historical

customer base.

Developing an integrated, enterprise

approach to data management and

access requires replacing incremental

historical data management and

Over the past two years a cross-NOAA Line and Program Office team

has addressed data and information management needs for the

Ecosystem Research Program’s Office of Ocean Exploration (OE). The

team has developed: (1) a customized system for recording metadata

and data during expeditions; and, (2) a data management system for

OE projects. The team also developed a Web-base digital atlas that

provides a means to query and display information from OE expeditions,

and a video data management system. The team includes

representatives from OE, the NOAA Central Library, and NOAA’s

National Data Centers.

View of the bow of Titanic, June 2004. Dr. Robert Ballard and a team of

scientists from NOAA and other institutions worked from the NOAA R/V

Ronald H. Brown in a non-invasive study of Titanic’s deterioration.

access methods with a strategic,

progressive approach. It is incumbent

upon NOAA’s DMC and the

individual Ecosystem Programs to

develop a comprehensive plan rather

than maintain the current policies. The

basis of a strategic, progressive

approach is to combine successful past

and current data management policies

with innovative enterprise approaches

to develop a completely new plan. The

overall strategy to move the NOAA

Ecosystem Goal to integrated data

management is:

• Immediate to one year out.

Develop an integrated enterprise

data management plan through the

NOAA DMC. Allocate data

management resources to oversee

implementation within the

Ecosystem Goal.

• Near term (one to five years).

Implement the NOAA data

management plan across all

Ecosystem Goal Programs, and

across all NOAA Goals.

• Long term (five to ten years).

Expand to interagency data

management among coastal and

marine science and management

agencies.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 19

NOAA Mission Goal:

Climate

Understand climate variability and

change to enhance society’s

ability to plan and respond

• CLIMATE OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS • CLIMATE FORCING

• CLIMATE PREDICTIONS AND PROJECTIONS • CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS

• REGIONAL DECISION SUPPORT

Climate shapes the environment, natural resources, economies, and socialsystems that people depend upon worldwide. Although humanity has learned

to contend with some aspects of climate’s natural variability, it is ill-prepared to deal

with abrupt climate change.

Major climate events, combined with the stresses of population growth,

economic growth, and land-use practices, impose serious consequences on society.

NOAA’s information, products, and services enable society to better understand and

respond to changing climate conditions.

Together with our partners, we conduct visionary research that considers both

climate variability and long-term climate change. We describe the state of the

climate system through integrated observations, analysis, and data stewardship.

Decisions about mitigating climate change can alter economic and social

structures on a global scale. We are committed to delivering climate information in

ways that may help minimize risks and maximize opportunities for decisions in

agriculture, public policy, natural resources, water and energy use, and public health.
20 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Commerce and

Transportation

Climate Observations and

Analysis

• promote a tiered and integrated

observational network providing

sustained global and U.S. monitoring of

key climate-related variables

• provide analyses to separate climate

variability and change as a result of

natural processes and from human

activities

Climate Forcing

• provide understanding of atmospheric

and oceanic carbon dioxide trends that

may be directly applied to climate

projection and policy decisions regarding

climate change

• characterize observations for inputs to

climate models

Climate Predictions and

Projections

• provide a seamless suite of climate

outlooks and projections on

intraseasonal, seasonal, interannual, and

multi-decadal time scales

• enable regional and national managers to

better plan for the impacts of climate

variability and change

Climate and Ecosystems

• develop biophysical indicators and

models to predict the probable

consequences of global climate change

on marine systems and living resources

NOAA Climate Programs

• monitor changes in coastal and marine

ecosystems

Regional Decision Support

• design and manage stakeholderinfluenced, interdisciplinary research

• merge the talents of researchers and

practitioners to move products from

experimental to operational

Overview

Climate observations, monitoring,

evaluation, and forecasting are critical

to economic sustainability and

environmental stewardship, as well as

planning and responding to the

quality-of-life changes that society

will encounter in the 21st Century and

beyond. In the two years since the last

assessment, the NOAA Climate Goal

has made significant improvements in

the quality of observations and is

delivering data more efficiently, in

part due to improved quality control

procedures. NOAA has also improved

data quality by increasing its spatial

and temporal coverage. NOAA’s five

Climate Goal Programs conducted an

assessment of all data management

activities and determined areas of

success and continuing challenges.

Observation Acquisition

and Transmission

NOAA currently operates

observing systems that measure more

than 300 environmental parameters.

Observation platforms include

satellites, ground-based monitoring

systems, ocean buoys, ships, and

aircraft. As indicated by the data

management assessment chart, welldeveloped five- and ten-year plans,

prepared in conjunction with NOAA’s

Support Mission Goal, exist for all

Programs and observing systems

including extensive plans for satellite

observing platforms.

In general, climate observations are

adequately monitored and systems are

well maintained. Deficiencies in realtime climate variability monitoring

can be addressed by allocating

significant new resources for the

Note: NOAA matrix programs are identified

by blue italic text. All Climate Programs

are matrixed.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 21

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Climate

Observations

& Analysis

FF F

Climate

Forcing FF F

Climate

Predictions

& Projections

N/A F F

Climate &

Ecosystems P P P

Regional

Decision

Support

N/A N/A N/A P

Climate Goal Programs

Contingency

Planning

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

P

N/A N/A

N/A

2005 Data Management Assessment

modernization of the Cooperative

Observing Program through NOAA’s

Environmental Real-time Observation

Network. Emerging new requirements

for real-time climate variability

monitoring, including drought (a

specific requirement of the National

Integrated Drought Information

System) can only be adequately

addressed in the current NOAA

observing systems by locating

significant new resources.

Implementing a well-defined

observations “requirements” process

will enable NOAA to prioritize needs

and resources.

The CDMP’s mission is to rescue

climate and environmental data, make

these data more accessible, and insure

preservation for future generations.

The major emphasis is on data

conversion. Digitized records from

paper or microform media extend the

climate record back in time or fill in

missing periods. These new digital

data are accessible via the Internet. In

2005, NOAA is supporting 30 CDMP

projects across all five NOAA

operational Line Offices, plus 21

projects for the National Climatic Data

Center (NCDC). Funding for these

tasks is determined through a proposal

process. CDMP is also finding foreign

data sources that are critical to

completing and expanding NOAA

global databases. Stable funding for

data rescue is essential to NOAA’s

ability to extend climate and

environmental databases back in time,

providing researchers with digital data

to help in making decisions concerning

climate and environmental trends and

impacts.

As part of a new initiative, NOAA is

now developing the U.S. Climate

Reference Network (USCRN), a

network of climate stations. Its

primary goal is to provide future,

long-term, homogeneous observations

of temperature and precipitation that

can be coupled to long-term, historical

observations for the detection and

attribution of present and future

climate change. Data from the

USCRN will be used in operational

climate monitoring activities and for

placing current climate anomalies into

an historical perspective.

Although Regional Decision Support

and Climate Predictions and

Projections collect observations, these

Programs also rely on data and data

products produced by other NOAA

Programs.

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.
22 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Scientific Data

Management

The various climate observing

systems are linked through

international collaborations such as

the Global Climate Observing System

(GCOS), World Weather Watch,

IOOS, and Global Ocean Observing

System (GOOS). To move toward a

more integrated ecological observing

and data system for the planet, NOAA

research is advancing the application

of present observing systems and data

products while participating in the

development of new systems. All of

these systems need to be cross-linked

to maximize their information content

and utility. NOAA must ensure that

observations are available in formats

appropriate to the user community, by

supporting data integration across

platforms, disciplines, and time-scales.

Much remains to be done to ensure

that all NOAA observations of longterm value to the Nation are delivered

to, and archived at, one of the NOAA

National Data Centers (NNDC). As

indicated in the data assessment chart,

complete metadata (data describing

the data) is a continuing challenge.

Metadata are poor for many observing

systems and often not delivered to a

data center. These factors diminish the

maximum value and cost benefit of the

observations.

Effective utilization of climate data

and information and long-term

stewardship requires the ability to

USCRN site at Red Canyon Ranch,

Wyoming. Below, current sites of USCRN,

excluding Alaska.

Biophysical moorings have been deployed by

the North Pacific Climate Regimes and

Ecosystem Productivity to detect changing

ocean climate conditions in the Bering Sea.

Column-integrated temperatures at some

locations in the Bering Sea have risen as

much as 3oC in the last nine years.

NOAA commissioned the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN),

which now contains 72 stations across the conterminous U.S. and

Alaska. The USCRN, in its first full year of operation, is already providing

significant data, reducing scientific uncertainty on long-term temperature and precipitation trends—from 5% to 3.5% for temperature and

from 16% to less than 10% for precipitation. This verification of climate observations improves the tracking of temperature and

precipitation trends, providing more insight into climate variability and change. A total of 110 stations are planned.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 23

manage the Nation’s climate records

and provide relevant utility to a wide

range of customers. Scientific

stewardship can be characterized as

maintaining scientific integrity and

long-term utility of climate records by

monitoring, improving quality, and

extracting key variables from new

observations and historical records.

The concept of scientific stewardship

within NOAA means providing

environmental data and information

services necessary to answer global

change science questions of the

highest priority.

Data reports from all of the global

ocean networks (e.g., ships, tide gauge

stations, drifting and moored buoys,

profiling floats) will be collected in

near real time at a single “data

assembly center,” NOAA’s National

Data Buoy Center (NDBC). The

NDBC will be responsible for

automated quality control

accomplished in near real-time and

operational distribution via Global

Telecommunication System and the

Web. Delayed mode quality control

will be accomplished at several

distributed centers of expertise.

Following delayed quality control, the

data will be delivered to NNDC and

their collocated World Data Centers

for archive and distribution. The

biophysical moorings deployed by the

Climate and Ecosystems Program

need to be modernized and improved

by making the in situ moorings

telemeter data available in real time to

the laboratory. This would allow realtime access to the data and monitoring

of data quality.

Effective data collection and

distribution systems must be in place

to support scientific research in

government, commercial, educational,

and private sector communities. Since

implementation of these systems will

result in the generation of massive

volumes of data, data management

issues must also be addressed. To

accomplish this, NOAA is developing

an integrated, national environmental

data access and archive system. The

system will support ingest, archive,

access, and distribution of its

environmental data and information.

As shown in the data management

assessment chart, the Climate Goal has

had mixed success in calibrating,

High-quality observation datasets are critical in testing

climate models used to make projections of future

climate. The graph shows that the current generation

of models does a good job of simulating the evolution

of global mean temperatures for more than 100

years. The next challenge is to utilize the datasets to

improve models so that this level of agreement can

be achieved at the regional level.

Deployment of a Tropical Atmosphere

Ocean (TAO) buoy. These buoys are

anchored to the ocean floor at depths

ranging from 2000 to 5000 meters.

The TAO Project provides real-time data

from moored ocean buoys for improved

detection, understanding, and prediction

of El Niño and La Niña. Oceanic and

atmospheric data are transmitted

several times a day to NOAA’s polar

orbiting satellites. The success of this

project has demonstrated that building

and sustaining long-term ocean

observing systems are possible.
24 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

In order to better understand and predict complex inter-related Earth systems, NOAA led a collaborative effort to develop a process to

evaluate climate models and data in a systematic, format-neutral environment. The resulting system, NOMADS, uses established and

emerging technologies to access and integrate model and other data stored in geographically-distributed archives. Developed by computer

and research scientists, NOMADS enables sharing and intercomparison of model results, and comparison of model results, with observations.

It is a major community effort spanning multiple federal agencies and academic institutions.

validating, formatting, and describing

data. Some key areas include

calibrating and validating observations

for Regional Decision Support, and

the availability of climate data in

appropriate formats with complete

metadata to enable integration across

platforms and observing systems.

Archive and Access

Over the next 15 years, current

and planned remote sensing observing

systems will produce volumes of

environmental data on an

unprecedented scale. NOAA must

make data from these systems

available to support a myriad of users.

By the year 2017, plans for the current

environmental observation satellite

campaigns and numerous in situ

observation programs will increase the

total data volume (primary and backup

copies) to more than 140 petabytes.

This presents a particular challenge for

long-term preservation and data

discovery in the Climate Observations

and Analysis Program.

NOAA climate researchers from

various disciplines are increasingly

engaged in large, multinational teams.

To support these efforts, we need a

software and data management

infrastructure that spans not only

NOAA, but also all relevant agencies

and institutions. Improved data access

services need to be further developed

in NOAA so that users can identify

and acquire the information necessary

to make decisions on time scales from

daily (e.g., weather), through seasonal

(e.g., El Niño), to decadal (e.g., global

change).

As shown in the assessment chart, the

Climate Goal, especially the Regional

Decision Support Program, faces some

significant challenges in planning and

implementing the necessary data

discovery, access, and dissemination

services. NOAA’s Comprehensive

Large Array-data Stewardship System

(CLASS) Project and other pilot

projects such as the NOAA

Operational Model Archive and

Distribution System (NOMADS) are

designed to enhance NOAA’s

capability to predict and assess

decadal to centennial climatological

changes and improve our

understanding of our Earth system.

These projects provide various

environmental data and information

The U.S. has sustained 67 weather- or climate-related

disasters over the last 26 years (1980–2005) in which overall

damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. Using an

inflation/weath index, total costs for the 67 events were more

than $500 billion.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 25

NOAA 2005–2010 Strategic Plan

Long-Term Climate Strategies:

• Improve the quality and quantity of climate observations, analyses,

interpretation, and archiving by maintaining a consistent climate record and by

improving our ability to determine why changes are taking place.

• Improve the quantification and understanding of the forces bringing about

climate change by examining relevant human-induced increases in

atmospheric constituents.

• Advance sub-seasonal to inter-annual climate predictions and climate change

projections by improving analyses of the climate system, using ensembles of

multiple, high-end climate and Earth system models.

• Develop the ability to predict the consequences of climate change of

ecosystems by monitoring changes in coastal and marine ecosystems,

conducting research on climate-ecosystem linkages, and incorporating climate

information into physical-biological models.

• Develop and contribute to routine state-of-the-science assessments of the

climate system for informed decision-making.

• Work with customers in order to deliver climate services and information

products involved in health, safety, environmental, economic, and community

planning that increase the effective application of this information.

• Coordinate among NOAA Line Offices the transition from investigator-driven

research projects to operational facilities, capabilities, and products.

• Support educational efforts to create a more climate-literate public by

developing climate educational materials, involving teachers in the research

process, and generating tools to allow climate information to be used in

decision making.

archive and access services to the

Nation through the effective

application of modern and scalable

techniques and technology.

Contingency Planning

All NOAA Line Offices and data

centers are required to develop and

maintain a Continuity of Operations

Plan (COOP) for their location and

operation. These must comply with

existing statutes, executive orders,

mandates, applicable laws, and

regulations. These plans address:

• establishing temporary

headquarters for emergency

planning;

• steps required to resume missioncritical functions should the facility

become uninhabitable;

• offsite storage for mission-critical

data and information; and,

• ability to access offsite data.

There are projects underway within

NOAA, especially within NOAA’s

National Data Centers, that protect

vital data and information by

replicating it at other NOAA sites.

This method is much preferred to

storing back-up data on magnetic

media housed on tape racks at an offsite location, since other NOAA

facilities would be able to provide

immediate access to the data should

the primary site become disabled.

Eventually, all of NOAA’s data will be

replicated and readily accessible at

other NOAA sites. Within the Climate

Goal, all Programs have complete

contingency plans except for Climate

and Ecosystems, and Regional

Decision Support. These two

Programs are in the process of

completing their plans.

Summary and 10-year

Objectives

NOAA’s Climate Goal has

improved the quality of observations

and is delivering data more

efficiently, in part due to improved

quality-control procedures. Through

data rescue programs such as CDMP,

it has also improved data quality by
26 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Objective long-term drought

indicator blend percentiles, April

16, 2005. This product from NOAA

approximates drought-related

impacts that respond to

precipitation on time scales

ranging from several months to a

few years, such as reservoir

stores, irrigated agriculture,

groundwater levels, and well water

depth. Long-term climate data are

critical to these products.

increasing spatial and temporal

coverage. Most Programs are

acquiring, managing, archiving, and

providing access to data and

information with current resources.

However, significant improvements

are needed for data discovery, and in

enabling data integration. Improved

corporate guidelines, standards, and

procedures to adequately address

metadata requirements must be

established. This is a significant

shortcoming that if not properly

addressed, will result in the

diminished use and value of

observations and assessments.

Confidence in the fidelity and quality

of data is greatly enhanced by

documenting the entire end-to-end

continuum from observations through

data management and the generation

of products and support services.

NOAA Administrative Order 212-15

(see Appendix A) addresses

documenting data quality, and when

used with the Federal Geographic

Data Committee (FGDC) and

International Organization for

Standardization 19115, addresses

many aspects of metadata

documentation.

The 10-year objective is to deploy

100% of the global atmospheric,

ocean, terrestrial, and space (solar)

observing systems. An improved endto-end data management system will

measure atmospheric- and oceanessential climate variables, with the

goal of integration and quality-control

processing, and other data

management functions necessary to

enhance understanding of the climate

system.

These observing systems will be an

integral part of the Global Earth

Observing System of Systems

(GEOSS) as described in Strategic

Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth

Observation System (2005). The

Implementation Plan Task Team 201-

1 addresses the deficiencies in

observations outlined in The Second

Report on the Adequacy of the Global

Observing Systems for Climate in

Support of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate

Change (World Meteorological

Organization, 2003). To address these

priorities, the NOAA DMC is

analyzing the steps necessary for a

sustainable data management

framework to integrate NOAA’s vast

collection of observations as well as its

knowledge and research.

The key to the success of NOAA’s

observing systems will be the

expanded use of an integrated data

management framework that will apply

a common set of data management

services for research and operations.

These services also include qualitycontrol procedures for each given

variable measured, regardless of the

individual observing system. The

training of future research and

applications scientists, and developing

and implementing new processing

techniques pose the greatest challenges

for analysis of the climate system.

Inputs (as percentiles):

25% Palmer Hydrologic Index

20% 24-Month Precipitation

20% 12-Month Precipitation

15% 6-Month Precipitation

10% 60-Month Precipitation

10% CPC Soil Moisture Model

This map approximates impacts responding to precipitation over the course of several months to a few

years, such as reservoir content, groundwater, and lake levels. HOWEVER, THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN INDICATORS AND WATER SUPPLIES CAN VARY MARKEDLY WITH LOCATION,

SEASON, SOURCE, AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. Do not interpret this map too literally.

This map is based on preliminary climate division data. Local conditions and/or

final data may differ. See the detailed product suite description for more details.

NWS / NCEP

Climate

Prediction

Center

NESDIS

National

Climatic

Data Center

Percentile (D0-to-D4 equivalent)

0 to 2 (D4)

2 to 5 (D3)

5 to 10 (D2)

10 to 20 (D1)

20 to 30 (D0)

70 to 80

80 to 90

90 to 95

95 to 98

98 to 100

30 to 70

New Western Formulation

Inputs (as percentiles):

30% Palmer Hydrologic Index

30% 60-Month Average Z-Index

10% 60-Month Precipitation

10% 24-Month Precipitation

10% 12-Month Precipitation

10% CPC Soil Moisture Model

NOTICE OF REVISION: The formula used to calculate the long-term

blend changed for a large part of the western half

of the U. S. (outlined in color) on Dec. 18, 2004 to

better reflect the regions' water supply conditions.

HOWEVER, ALL CAVEATS NOTED BELOW STILL APPLY.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 27

Floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and other severe weatherevents cause $11 billion in damages each year in the U.S. Nearly one-third of

the U.S. economy is sensitive to weather and climate. Ninety percent of all

presidential-declared disasters are weather and water related.

NOAA’s role in understanding, observing, forecasting, and warning of

environmental events is ever expanding. We have established cooperative efforts

with other federal and state agencies, and private sector partners. Together, we

provide decision makers with key observations, analyses, predictions, and warnings

for a range of weather and water conditions, including those related to water supply,

hazards, air quality, and space weather.

We are committed to conducting sound, scientific research, and providing

integrated observations to those who manage environmental resources. We are also

committed to preserving historical data used to develop our weather and water

models, statistics, and environmental indicators. NOAA’s efforts have led to

breakthroughs in prediction and preparedness, enhancing the safety and security of

our citizens.

NOAA Mission Goal:

Weather and Water

Serve society’s needs for

weather and water information

• LOCAL FORECASTS AND WARNINGS • COASTS, ESTUARIES, AND OCEANS • SPACE WEATHER

• HYDROLOGY–RIVERS, LAKES, AND FLOODS • AIR QUALITY • ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING

• WEATHER WATER SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND INFUSION • TSUNAMIS
28 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Commerce and

.

Overview

NOAA’s Weather and Water

Mission Goal provides decision

makers with environmental

information essential to public safety

and the Nation’s economy. The data

and products include observations,

analyses, predictions, and warnings.

The eight Weather and Water

Programs (listed above) support

NOAA’s other Mission Goals, and six

of the programs are matrixed, cutting

across Line and Staff Offices.

In the two years since the last

assessment, the Goal improved

planning for observation acquisition

and transmission. Data are generally

well calibrated, validated, and

delivered in appropriate formats.

However, in the course of the data

management assessment, the Weather

and Water Goal Team identified

several data challenges:

Local Forecasts and Warnings

• end-to-end forecast process

• delivers essential NOAA services through

Weather Forecast Offices, Weather

Service Offices, and data collection

offices

Coasts, Estuaries, and Oceans

• provide understanding of the air–ocean–

land interface

Space Weather

• timely and accurate operational space

weather forecasts, warnings, alerts, and

data

Hydrology—Rivers, Lakes, and

Floods

• develop and deliver flood watches, river

and flash flood warnings, and river and

lake level forecasts

Air Quality

• provide information on processes and

impacts of poor air quality

• provide potential solutions and tools to

support effective decision making

Environmental Modeling

• provide models and model-based

estimates of current and future states of

the environment, based on observations

and scientifically-based modeling

techniques

NOAA Weather and Water Programs

Weather Water Science,

Technology, and Infusion

• conduct visionary research critical for

managing future environmental and

societal threats

• perform research and development that

leads to the transfer and knowledge and

new concepts, as well as exploring the

unknown

Tsunami

• tsunami hazard assessment, warning

guidance, mitigation, and research

• international coordination of regional and

global tsunami warning systems

Note: NOAA matrix programs are

identified by blue italic text.

• Scale end-to-end data management

infrastructure to support: (1) access

to, and processing of, highresolution observations; and, (2)

distribution of products generated

within the goal.

• Expand and support digital

products and services that are

readily interoperable with GIS.

• Develop an integrated Data

Management and Communications

(DMAC) plan in order to enhance

synergies between Programs and

track observing sensor performance

Goal-wide.

These challenges are reflected in the

mix of yellow and green matrix cells in

the data management assessment chart.

The Weather and Water Goal is in a

transition phase, bringing new

Programs into operational status (Air

Quality, Space Weather, and Tsunami).
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 29

2005 Data Management Assessment

It is also simultaneously sustaining and

modernizing the other Programs

during rapid changes in technology.

The Weather and Water Goal has a

clear vision for expanding and

improving service to the Nation. In

many cases we are on track to achieve

our vision, while in other cases,

additional resources will be needed.

Observation Acquisition

and Transmission

The Weather and Water Goal is an

extensive producer and user of

observations. Its Programs utilize

observations to calibrate sensors,

verify official forecasts and warnings,

analyze atmospheric data, and improve

understanding of environmental

processes. All Programs are

developing, or have developed, fiveyear plans for observation acquisition

and transmission.

Weather and Water Goal Programs are

transitioning from traditional system

requirements and implementation to an

integrated approach to observing

requirements, architecture, and

operation. This will reduce potential

system overlaps and enhance synergies

between Programs and Mission Goals.

Programs are reassessing their data

management plans for observations to

incorporate this integrated observing

system architecture. Development of

comprehensive plans are complete for

four of the seven Weather and Water

Programs. The remaining Programs

have partially completed plans. All

Programs have completed baseline

assessments for out year requirements

through FY 2012.

The Maintain and Monitor component

is generally in “yellow” status,

requiring additional resources. Weather

and Water’s ability to monitor

transmission and receipt of

observations is generally good.

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Local

Forecasts

& Warnings

FP P

Coasts,

Estuaries,

& Oceans

FP P

Space

Weather F F F

Hydrology,

Rivers, Lakes,

& Floods

P P P

Air

Quality P

PP P

Science,

Technology,

& Infusion

Weather and Water Goal Programs

FP P

Contingency

Planning

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

Environmental

Modeling

P P

N/A

Tsunami P N P
30 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Archive Level II data are high resolution, real-time output data from

the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system. For years,

these data were written to 8 mm tape at local NOAA Weather

Forecast Offices and sent through the U.S. mail to the National

Climatic Data Center for long-term archiving. To modernize the

distribution of these data, NOAA’s National Weather Service, along

with its partners, has implemented an innovative use of

collaborative communications technology at the high-speed federal

Internet2 network infrastructure. This allows NOAA to deliver

significantly greater amounts of high quality radar data to a

geographically diverse group of users. Archive Level II data are

currently collected from more than 130 NEXRAD sites.

Radome, NOAA National Weather Service

Weather Forecast Office, Pueblo, Colorado

However, the ability to track and

identify observing sensor problems

does not yet exist as an “integrated”

capability within Weather and Water.

The Programs are generally very good

at ensuring that observations are

collected and stored in NOAA’s long

term archive. Rescue of observation

datasets is not a significant problem in

most cases. In fact, one systemic data

rescue problem within the Local

Forecasts and Warnings Program—

collecting Archive Level II radar

data—has been resolved with the

innovative use of the U.S.

Government’s high-speed Internet2

network infrastructure. Areas remain

where Programs need additional

resources to address problems. For

example, non-NOAA observations

used as the basis for NOAA products

and services do not always get

systematically archived. An example is

Agricultural Research Service highresolution precipitation observations.

Programs must identify and coordinate

archival of essential non-NOAA data

with the data provider. In the future, as

The Weather and Water

Mission Goal operates

data management

systems that are essential

for NOAA, other federal

government entities, and

private sector partners.

Telecommunications Operations Center (TOC). This is the Nation’s data portal for NOAA,

other federal, and private sector real-time environmental data.

National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations. This supercomputing facility assimilates satellite and in situ observations, and produces predictions of

atmospheric, climate, air quality, space, and hydrologic processes.

Hydro-meteorological Automated Data System (HADS). HADS decodes proprietary binary

observations sent through the GOES data collection platform into uniform standard formatted

observations.

Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS). MADIS collects surface Mesonet

data from more than 13,000 stations (most from non-NOAA sources), standardizes formats,

generates data quality statistics, and redistributes data.

National Data Buoy Center (NDBC). NDBC provides testing, calibration, quality monitoring,

metadata collection, and near real-time dissemination to NOAA and non-NOAA partners for the

Marine Observing Network.

products and services are down-scaled

and performance measure targets

become more challenging, enhanced

observation coverage and density of

observations will be necessary.

Scientific Data

Management

Weather and Water Programs are

performing well in Scientific Data

Management, but areas for

improvements are noted in several

activities. Overall, the Programs use
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 31

After more than 10 years of development, NOAA’s

National Weather Service (NWS) has deployed an

initial operating capability for the National Digital

Forecast Database (NDFD). NDFD moves the

NWS from an era of manually-edited text forecast

for individual counties to a meteorologist-in-theloop, national, digital database at 3 mile (5 km)

resolution. NDFD allows users to directly query the

database using eXtensible Markup Language,

even on cell phones and Internet appliances.

NDFD provides a 24-hour access to gridded

forecasts of weather elements (e.g., cloud cover,

maximum temperature). The database contains a

seamless mosaic of digital forecasts received from

Weather Forecast Offices and NCEP. Customers

and partners can customize a wide range of text,

and graphic, gridded, and image products for their

particular enterprise.

internationally-approved formats and

protocols for data exchange and

document observations and guidance

publicly. However, documentation of

scientific data management plans,

calibration/validation, and metadata all

need additional resources to meet data

management standards.

The Weather and Water Goal must

ensure data management resources are

identified in plans for recently

developed and future products. These

will provide the needed end-to-end

infrastructure to support them. Two

examples of new and emerging

products requiring additional planning

resources are the Coast, Estuaries, and

Oceans Program Weather and

Research Forecast (WRF) model, and

water resource data assimilation

activities of the Hydrology Program.

Calibration and validation of

observations, products, and forecasts

are done throughout Weather and

Water Programs. Mission-critical

observing system sensors are

monitored, and engineering changes

made to individual malfunctioning

sensors. Observing system data quality

is also monitored centrally within the

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP) Central Operations

and at field sites by operational

meteorologists. Even with this

significant amount of monitoring

activity, only the most noticeable erros

can be corrected or eliminated.

Problems and trends in observing

system performance are not always

available to all operational interests,

nor do these trends get systematically

entered into the climatic data record.

Development of Integrated Surface

Observing System (ISOS) and

Integrated Upper-air Observing

System (IUOS) data management

plans will enhance data monitoring

coordination within the Programs.

Areas needing additional resources

include observing sensor calibration

and validation data for non-NOAA

observations. In response to uncertain

observation performance and

calibration, the Science, Technology,

and Infusion Program has developed

the Meteorological Assimilation Data

Ingest System (MADIS). MADIS

integrates data from NOAA and many

non-NOAA sources. MADIS also

generates statistics that characterize

long-term stability and accuracy of

non-NOAA observing systems.

Validation and verification of Weather

and Water Goal analyses, forecasts and

warnings are critical for continued

improvement to Program products and

services. Most existing products have

established criteria, but newer services

will require additional resources to

establish robust validation and

verification processes. Examples of

programs in this situation include some

Space Weather products and Local

Forecasts and Warnings Program

digital services currently in

development.

The need for interoperability of

Weather and Water observations and

products has long been established
32 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

with our national customers and

international partners. All Programs

adhere to industry norms for format,

timeliness, and quality. However, as

NOAA’s mission evolves and our focus

shifts from traditional products and

services to include air and water quality

and ecosystems, traditional

meteorological product formats must

be re-examined. The Weather and

Water Programs are coordinating an

expanded product suite that includes

emerging open standards such as those

coordinated through the FGDC and the

Organization for the Advancement of

Structured Information Standards.

While there is much activity in

collecting metadata from Weather and

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL

IAZ089-099-ILZ016>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ010-030045-

/X.UPG.KDVN.FR.Y.0001.050503T0500Z-050503T1400Z

/X.EXA.KDVN.FZ.W.0002.050503T0500Z-05053T1400Z

DES MOINES-LEE-HENRY-BUREAU-PUTNAM-MERCER-HENDERSON-WARRENINCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BURLINGTON...FORT

MADISON...KEWANEE...PRINCETON...HENNEPIN...ALEDO...

1131 AM CDT MON MAY 2 2005

...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM

CDT TUESDAY

The Valid Time Event Code (VTEC), implemented in early 2005, documents product metadata associated with watches, warnings, and

advisories. In the example above, the fourth and fifth lines contain the VTEC information. VTEC standardizes weather products for both

internal and external use, such as Web pages and TV crawls. It allows start-to-finish tracking of weather information.

Water Programs, integrating and

archiving data into accessible

databases linked with the original data

is a challenge. The development and

execution of ISOS and IUOS DMAC

plans will enhance metadata collecting

and archiving, but will require

additional resources. Resources will

also be required within the

Environmental Modeling Program to

document changes to model resolution,

assimilation, algorithm, physics, and

performance.

Archive and Access

Weather and Water programs have

a history of robust operational archive

and access capabilities. Observations,

forecasts, and warning dissemination

capabilities must support exponential

increases in requests for information

during national emergencies such as

land-falling hurricanes. Observations,

forecasts, and warnings are the basis

for the Nation’s official climate record.

Therefore, most observations and

products have formal archive

agreements in place with NOAA’s

NCDC to ensure that these data are

available to support legal, climate, and

economic interests. Similar informal

agreements with NOAA’s National

Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and

National Oceanographic Data Center

(NODC) are being reviewed for Space

The NOAAPORT Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) provides one-way

satellite communications of hydrometeorological data and information

throughout the United States. NOAA’s National Weather Service is

modernizing the SBN, with infusion of commercial off-the-shelf

hardware, software, and communications technologies integrated into

NOAA operations. The centerpiece of expansion has been the

development of Digital Video Broadcast–Satellite (DVB-S), which will

enable the SBN to transmit over a single, linearly-scalable satellite

channel. Another component of SBN expansion has been the increased

usage of advance product compression technologies. In addition, SBN

bandwidth will be scaled up by 71%. Through DVB-S, both NOAA and

the public will be able to access a significant amount of valuable, high

quality, environmental observations and forecasts.

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

(GOES) East-CONUS sector, infrared image.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 33

NOAA 2005–2010 Strategic Plan

Long-Term Weather and Water Strategies

• Improve the reliability, lead-time, and effectiveness of weather and water

information and services that predict changes in environmental conditions.

• Integrate an information enterprise that incorporates all stages from research to

delivery, seeks better coordination of employee skills and training, and engages

customers.

• Develop and infuse research results and new technologies more efficiently to

improve products and services, streamline dissemination, and communicate

vital information more effectively.

• Work with private industry, universities, and national and international agencies

to create and leverage partnerships that foster more effective information

services.

• Build a broad-based and coordinated education and outreach program by

engaging individuals in continuous learning toward a greater understanding of

the impacts of weather and water on their lives.

• Employ scientific and emerging technological capabilities to advance decisionsupport services and educate stakeholders.

Weather and Tsunami data and

information. In most cases “data

discovery” for retrospective (not realtime) observations, forecasts, and

warnings can be queried using Webbased tools.

The most significant issue in the next

five years is data volume growth of

environmental modeling guidance

products. This presents challenges for

disseminating and archiving these data.

Plans are completed for the expansion

of computing resources and bandwidth

required to create and disseminate

forecast guidance between the NCEP

supercomputing facility and the TOC.

Additional planning and resources are

required for transferring forecast

guidance from the TOC to Local

Forecast and Warning field offices,

storing these at NCDC, and archiving

the growing suite of digital products.

Additional resources will be required

for long-term archive of new products

and services, including those from the

Space Weather and Tsunami Programs,

observations from the NOAA Profile

Network and Deep-ocean Assessment

and Reporting of Tsunamis, and

Coasts, Estuaries, and Oceans WRF

model output. Non-NOAA observation

data (from regional associations and

other federal agencies) used in NOAA

products also need additional

resources to support storage and

retrieval.

The Weather and Water real-time

operational mission mandates

maintenance of a highly available,

flexible, interoperable, and efficient

dissemination infrastructure. The

communications infrastructure is

currently strong, but as the scope of the

product suite expands, today’s

infrastructure will need additional

resources to keep pace with the evergrowing demand for products.

Contingency Planning

Overall contingency planning for

collection and dissemination of

Weather and Water Goal observations,

forecasts, and warnings is good, but

will require incremental resources to

meet targets for end-to-end data

availability. The extent of

infrastructure requiring backup is

substantial, but a significant effort has

been expended to ensure that the

Weather and Water Goal can withstand

degraded operations by multiple

systems while continuing to provide

critical information to decision makers.

The Weather and Water Goal has

recently demonstrated its ability to

perform during national emergencies

by participating in the following drills:

• Forward Challenge 04, a federalwide Continuity of Government

exercise;
34 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

The Space Weather Program developed a data processing and archiving

system for the new Solar X-Ray Imager on GOES-12. The plans were

formulated with input and resources from both the research and operational

branches of NOAA’s Space Environment Center (SEC) and the archiving

organization, NOAA’s NGDC. SEC acquires data using satellite dishes in

Boulder, Colorado. SEC then processes the data and generates products for

the real-time, operational, Space Weather Forecast Center. Sixty days of

data are stored at SEC. In addition, the data are sent in near real-time to the

permanent data archive at NGDC. The two independent systems provide

backup and redundancy for the captured data and products. To date, no

critical data have been lost.

• quarterly backup exercises at the

NASA IV and V facility in

Fairmont, West Virginia, using the

NCEP backup Central Computing

System, which provides full backup

capabilities for all NCEP numerical

forecast products;

• numerous backup exercises among

Local Forecast and Warning

Program field offices and the

Department of Defense Forecast

Center; and,

• hurricane exercises at field offices

in coordination with local

emergency management agencies.

In addition to the completion of the

backup supercomputing facility in

Fairmont, Weather and Water is

improving its posture to respond to

threats by planning for a TOC backup

facility. The projected Initial Operating

Capacity is FY 2007.

Summary and 10-year

Objectives

NOAA’s Weather and Water

Mission Goal is, in many respects, the

nexus of much of the observations and

information generated within NOAA.

Through the Weather and Water

Mission Goal, raw environmental

observations are fused into useful

analyses and predictions that enhance

the Nation’s public safety and

economy. We have responded well to

the challenge of growing observation

complexity and volume by

significantly improving computing,

bandwidth, applied research, and

training in an effort to fully exploit

observing system investments. This

balanced portfolio of investments has

yielded steady improvement in

climate, water, and weather prediction

accuracy. These improvements benefit

virtually every facet of people’s lives

and the economy.

America’s vulnerability to weather and

flooding is rising as more of the

population moves into areas prone to

these hazards, and national and global

economies become increasingly

complex. Approximately 40% of

Americans—about 100 million

people—currently reside along our

coasts. The risk to dense coastal

populations was demonstrated with

deadly consequences in 2004 as four

hurricanes made landfall in Florida,

and then again with the tragic and

catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami.

To keep pace with evolving threats to

the economy and society, we must

improve and expand our products and

services. To achieve this outcome,

Weather and Water must balance

investments in enhanced baseline

observing systems such as the WSR-88

Doppler for dual polarization, National

Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS), and GOES-R with those

infrastructure investments needed to

process, distribute, monitor, and

assimilate and archive these data for

maximum effectiveness.

The 10-year goal resulting from

balanced, cost-effective investments

will be a transformed observing system

that is an integrated, comprehensive

system-of systems, with an advanced

data assimilation capability. This

ultimately will deliver a seamless suite

of digital climate, water, and weather

products and services that meet the

public’s demand for timeliness,

accuracy, and accessibility.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 35

NOAA Mission Goal:

Commerce

and Transportation

Support the Nation’s commerce

with information for safe, efficient,

and environmentally sound

transportation

• MARINE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS • MARINE WEATHER • AVIATION WEATHER

• SURFACE WEATHER • GEODESY • NOAA EMERGENCY RESPONSE

• COMMERCIAL REMOTE SENSING LICENSING

NOAA’s products and services are essential to the safe and efficient transport ofpeople and goods on the water, in the air, and on the land.

In support of the Commerce and Transportation Mission Goal, NOAA

acquires a wide array of data, ranging from periodic to continuous—from the ocean

to the land and the atmosphere—using both fixed and mobile platforms.

NOAA provides real-time observations and analyses of temperature, wind,

pressure, clouds, turbulence, and icing. Accurate navigational data are provided to

mariners, and to port and harbor developers.

NOAA responds to hazardous material spills to protect the Nation’s coastal

environment. We also assist in search and rescue, and provide weather and disaster

warnings to citizens who may be in harm’s way.

We are committed to improving the accuracy and timeliness of our marine

forecasts; providing advanced navigational charts and real-time oceanographic

information; and maintaining a consistent and accurate positioning network. We are

also committed to working with our national and international partners to promote

beneficial science for all aspects of commerce and transportation, including

innovative use of remotely-sensed data.
36 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Commerce and

Transportation

Marine Transportation Systems

• provide products, information, tools, and

services for the safe, efficient, and

environmentally sound flow of goods and

people through the marine transportation

system

Geodesy

• maintain a consistent national coordinate

system

• support mapping, charting, navigation,

and scientific applications of spatial data

Surface Weather

• provide timely weather and hazard

information on a scale that supports

improvements to safe and efficient

transportation

Aviation Weather

• provide accurate aviation convection,

icing, turbulence, and cloud ceiling/

surface visibility products to the Federal

Aviation Administration

Marine Weather

• depict upper ocean and lower

atmosphere data and information

• create warning and advisory products

and services

NOAA Emergency Response

• provide an integrated source of scientific

data, observation, prediction, and

response for emergencies threatening

life, commerce, or the environment

• coordinate across all NOAA emergency

NOAA Commerce and Transportation Programs

activities including those for natural

hazards, fire weather, and extreme

biological event forecasting

Commercial Remote Sensing

Licensing

• license the operations of U.S.

commercial remote sensing satellite

firms

• ensure that these are operated in a

manner consistent with U.S. national

security, homeland security, and foreign

policy interests

Overview

Within the Commerce and

Transportation Goal, data are

presently required to support safe and

efficient navigation in our skies, on

land, and while transiting our Nation’s

waters. In the two years since the last

assessment, the Commerce and

Transportation Goal made significant

improvements in data delivery.

Electronic navigational charts are now

available free of charge to the public

over the Internet. To date, more than

6.5 million charts have been

downloaded. In addition, we formed

partnerships with private industry to

deliver up-to-date charting products

maintained on a weekly basis. GIS are

being used successfully to display and

deliver data to wider and more diverse

user groups. The seven Programs of

the Commerce and Transportation

Goal reviewed all data activities,

Note: NOAA matrix programs are identified

by blue italic text.

assessing needs, accomplishments,

and challenges.

Observation Acquisition

and Transmission

Some types of data required to

accomplish the Goal mission include

water levels, currents, water depths

and coastal elevations, navigationallysignificant features both in the water

and on land, positioning information,

and sea floor bottom characterization.

Certain Commerce and Transportation

Programs use original data that are

acquired, managed, and archived by

different NOAA Goals. For instance,

aviation and marine weather rely on

data acquired by the Weather and

Water and the Climate Goals. Water

level and coastline relief data

collected for Marine Transportation

Systems support the Ecosystem
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 37

2005 Data Management Assessment

Observations Program, Coast,

Estuaries, and Oceans Program, and

Tsunami Program. NOAA fully

supports the concept of “collect once,

use many times.” This includes

enabling access so that data can be

used by a multitude of users for a

multitude of needs.

With the many recent advances in

technology, significantly larger data

sets are being acquired in support of

nautical charting and tsunami

inundation modeling during the

performance of hydrographic

surveying and shoreline delineation.

Currently, large-volume, multibeam

sonar data of two to four gigabytes

per day per vessel and large airborne

laser data sets are being acquired.

Data handling, processing, quality

control, and significant depth

sounding selection issues are a major

concern.

An investigation is underway to

determine the best methods to handle

the digital side scan sonar and bottom

backscatter datasets. These data are

acquired in support of nautical

charting efforts (10 gigabytes of data

per day per vessel). The data are

relevant to the Department of

Defense, Department of Homeland

Security, the many entities studying

fisheries, geologists, and a myriad of

other users. The Commerce and

Transportation data management

assessment chart reflects the

challenges posed by acquiring,

processing, and quality controlling

greatly increased volumes of data.

In the near future, NOAA will be

engaging Federal, State, and local

agencies, academia, and private

industry partners to join NOAA and

the Federal Highway Administration

in assessing surface weather

transportation needs. To mitigate the

adverse impacts of localized weather

conditions, travelers need weather

advisories based on timely, fineresolution weather observations along

the Nation’s roadways. Local effects

such as fog, blowing and drifting

snow, ice, high winds, and other

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Marine

Transportation System

FP P

Geodesy FP P

Surface

Weather P N N

Aviation

Weather N/A F F

Marine

Weather N/A N/A N/A F

N/A P P

Commercial

Remote

Sensing

NONE

Commerce & Transportation Goal Programs

Contingency

Planning

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

NOAA

Emergency

Response

N/A N/A

N/A N/A

F

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach the 100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place..
38 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

hazardous weather conditions impact

travel conditions with very short

notice.

In building this National Surface

Weather Observing System, data

management issues include

standardizing methods of data

gathering, archiving and exchange;

assessing the refinements needed to

meet surface transportation needs

(e.g., performance standards,

densification, accuracy); and

technology for data sharing and

transmission. One of the data sources

is from the Road Weather Information

Systems existing across the country.

To date, only a handful of State data

have been incorporated and collected

by NOAA. The entire effort, from

data collection to archive and

dissemination, will require a

substantial influx of resources.

Until now, NOAA has faced a long,

uphill battle to ensure that data

acquired in the past have not

deteriorated or become inaccessible.

NOAA’s CDMP has been invaluable

over the past five years by providing

assistance in scanning old and fragile

paper records, and copying data from

deteriorating digital sources such as

microfiche and negatives onto longterm approved media. Hydrographic

survey data, water level records,

current information, and shoreline

manuscripts have been “rescued” and

are now available electronically to the

public.

NOAA still has a large inventory of

historic aerial analog photographs used

in nautical and aeronautical charting

efforts that are aging rapidly. Some of

the film is very fragile. NOAA’s aerial

photography represents a national

treasure of information. Film

collections for both the U.S. coastline

and major airports date back to the

1930s. These analog collections

portray aerial imagery prior to satellite

availability. Coastal managers, urban

planners, legal representatives, the

public and many others currently use

this imagery. Long-term preservation

and contingency planning, including

storage and conversion to complete

digital data, are necessary for proper

aerial photography stewardship. This

effort will require substantial

additional resources. CDMP is

investigating the feasibility of

beginning this rescue effort.

Additional resources will be required

to serve these high-resolution data to

the user community.

Scientific Data

Management

Work is ongoing across

Commerce and Transportation

programs to ensure accurate, timely,

and consistent data and products.

Some programs are well established

and others are in their infancy. The

National Water Level Observation

Network, and Physical Oceanographic

Real-Time System (PORTS) have

successful 24/7 monitoring systems in

place that quality control many

different types of data and stops

availability to the public when suspect

data are detected. Other programs are

continuing to improve and automate,

where possible, the validation of data,

and to offer data in appropriate

formats as defined by customer needs.

The MSC Texas makes its way under the Gerald Desmond Bridge into

Long Beach, California. The newly built ship is almost 1,100 feet long and

140 feet wide, and able to carry enough cargo to completely fill a 1 millionsquare-foot shopping center with products stacked eight feet high. In the

forefront of the picture is the NOAA-developed air gap sensor affixed to

the bridge. The air gap, part

of the PORTS suite of

sensors, relays to the mariner

in real time the distance

between the bottom of the

bridge and the water surface.

This information is used to

determine whether the vessel

can safely pass under the

bridge without striking it.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 39

There are many different vertical

reference datums used by

organizations, including NOAA, to

collect geospatial data—particularly

data collected in coastal regions. This

is a major impediment to integrating

these data. A datum is the reference

level to which geospatial data is

gathered. In the interest of charting for

navigation safety, NOAA collects its

hydrographic data to a vertical datum

of Mean Lower Low Water and

shoreline data to Mean High Water.

However, other parts of NOAA and

many other agencies and entities,

routinely acquire geospatial data at a

variety of vertical reference datums for

different purposes. This is particularly

true for data collected in coastal

regions.

To address the problem, NOAA has

developed a vertical datum (VDatum)

transformation tool. VDatum translates

geospatial data among vertical

reference systems and removes the

most serious impediments to data

sharing. This allows for the easy and

accurate transformation of elevation

data from one vertical datum to

another. VDatum will give NOAA and

other mapping agencies the capability

to seamlessly integrate geospatial data

for a number of critical applications

for the benefit of the U.S. public.

Work on this tool proceeds at a slow

rate, as additional resources are

required.

NOAA produces and maintains a suite

of approximately 1,000 nautical

charts. A nautical chart enables the

mariner to fix positions and plot an

efficient course while avoiding rocks,

wrecks, shoals, reefs, tide rips, and

other known hazards. NOAA is

building a database that supports the

production of electronic navigational

charts (ENCs) and will be used to

modernize the production of all of

NOAA’s navigational products. It is

also being designed for direct access

by non-navigational users who want to

access specific data themes in the

coastal U.S. and to download data in

the format of their choice. This

database is an important part of the

U.S. geospatial data holdings. It will

represent the only geospatial database

of coastal information (e.g., shoreline,

bathymetry, navigational features) that

is kept up-to-date for changes to these

features.

Building a system to maintain this

database and loading it with the best

available navigational data continues

to be a difficult and resource-intensive

task. The next steps should be

accomplished as a partnership between

industry and NOAA. However, such a

partnership will put an even greater

demand on resources. The challenge

ahead is to build a system that will

streamline production and ultimately

improve productivity and quality while

continuing to create products crucial

to mariners, boaters, and other users.

With the growing use of electronic

navigational systems on board vessels

and GIS employed daily across the

country, historical ways of storing and

delivering data have been examined.

NOAA’s United States Coast Pilot

consists of nautical books that cover a

variety of information important to

Portion of Delaware Bay

Nautical Chart. Charts are now

available in both paper and

electronic form. Electronic

Navigational Charts (ENCs)

offer the mariner an outstanding

tool to more safely transit in our

Nation's waterways. The ship

position is displayed in real time

on the ENC, with zoom-in,

zoom-out and feature

identification capability.
40 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

navigators of coastal and intracoastal

waters and the Great Lakes. Issued in

nine volumes, they contain

supplemental information, all in text

form, that is difficult to portray on a

nautical chart.

A Coast Pilot is being developed that

will be continually updated, promoting

safe navigation for 100,000

professional mariners, the Department

of Defense, and up to 12 million

recreational boaters. Successful

completion of this project requires the

implementation of a database

publishing system and geographic

referencing of the textual data. Upon

completion, Coast Pilot will offer

seamless integration into a variety of

NOAA products, including the ability

to be geo-referenced to NOAA ENCs,

Print-on-Demand Charts, and any

other products wishing to include

Coast Pilot data without duplication of

effort. Private industry value-added

products are easier to develop with

digital Coast Pilot data.

Efforts are underway to build

complete metadata records for

Commerce and Transportation data,

databases, and products. The

challenge of data management for

scientific stewardship purposes is to

ensure that the data remain accessible

and relevant and have the associated

metadata that links to every data point.

Long-term data sets not only

document the past, but can be used to

predict or assess impacts for the

future. Data continuity is a major

challenge in prediction or impact

assessment. For example, sea level

data must be free of significant data

gaps, and have the same vertical

reference over time. Maintenance and

calibration records must accompany

the data. Intercomparisons of old and

new technologies must be available as

new sensor technologies are

implemented. The data management

challenge is to not only to store data

for history, but also keep data alive for

the research community to continually

exercise and apply to societal needs.

Archive and Access

Within Commerce and

Transportation Programs, an area

historically overlooked in data

management plans has been long-term

archival of collected data. That is

changing. Plans that never existed

before are now being formulated.

When a new project proposes to

acquire data, the viability of these data

is ensured, for now and into the future.

Technological advances in data

storage, computing power, and the

Web allows for ease of data

dissemination. The opportunity exists

to offer data, products, and tools to

assist customers in decision making on

a local, regional, and global basis.

Data users are more familiar with GIS

capabilities, and are actively looking

M/V Selendang Ayu, broken in two on Unalaska Island, Alaska, in December 2004. NOAA

data were used in NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration models to determine where

oil and soybeans (the vessel’s cargo) could impact in this environmentally-sensitive and

important area. Dispersion models are often used to determine protection strategies for

NOAA resources and where to deploy cleanup capabilities.

Customers require data in a

timely basis. At times, NOAA

ship personnel review

hydrographic survey data with

local officials within days of

acquisition.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 41

NOAA 2005–2010 Strategic Plan

Long-Term Commerce and Transportation Strategies:

• Expand and enhance advanced technology monitoring and observing systems,

such as weather and oceanographic observations, ice forecasts and nowcasts,

hydrographic surveys, and precise positioning coordinates, to provide accurate,

up-to-date information.

• Develop and apply new technologies, methods, and models to increase the

capabilities, efficiencies, and accuracy of transportation-related products and

services.

• Develop and implement sophisticated assessment and prediction techniques,

products, and services to support decisions on aviation, marine, surface

navigation efficiencies; coastal resource management; and transportation

system management, operations, and planning.

• Build public understanding of the science and technology involved and the role

of the environment in commerce and transportation through outreach,

education, and industry collaboration.

for comprehensive and varied data

sources.

Commerce and Transportation

Programs have some great successes

in data archive and access. These have

resulted from close partnerships

among NOAA’s operational and

production components and the

NOAA Data Centers. Climatic data in

support of aviation and marine

weather have a clearly defined path

from collection to archive at NCDC.

Hydrographic survey data have been

well preserved, and are available from

NGDC. “Mirror” data servers are

being established to ensure

uninterrupted data access to the

outside user and to serve as data

backup systems. One such system was

established in 2005 for continuing

operations between NOAA’s National

Geodetic Survey and NGDC. For

those areas where archive and

dissemination paths have not been

established, discussions are underway,

and the need for incremental or

substantial resources is being

identified.

During the course of a response to

marine incidents, data generated by

NOAA are used to communicate

information to decision makers, other

responders, scientists, or the public.

These data may be in the form of

photos, model output, weather

forecasts, graphic displays, summary

reports, or specific survey results. For

hundreds of incidents since 1979, data

exist only in paper format—in boxes

or folders stored in offices or

warehouses. Data used to support

modeling for specific incidents exist in

multiple formats ranging from floppy

disks to data on servers. Converting

modeling data to present technology

has been completed on a timeavailable basis. Much data still remain

to be converted.

A comprehensive plan is needed to

properly archive these historical and

modeling data in electronic format. A

complete inventory of available data

must be completed prior to

determining the level of effort

required to rescue these data. Some

data are available in an online,

searchable database. For example,

historical spill data (images and

documents) from large incidents are

available for viewing up to 1999. Data

for smaller incidents or post-1999

have not been processed for public

accessibility. Also, the technology for

sorting and searching this database is

outdated. Even with these limitations,

this is a much-visited database.

However, resources are required to

improve its accessibility and usability.

The Environmental Sensitivity Index

program also needs a plan to address

emerging dissemination needs and

long-term archiving. Data are

presently disseminated as paper

atlases, downloadable PDFs of

specific maps, mailed CDs (with cost

recovery), and as shapefiles for use in

geographic information systems.

There is no consistent standard and

testing for the long-term preservation
42 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

of spill response data. Work is

beginning on the plan to correct these

gaps. Initial archiving plans are

underway for large data sets of side

scan sonar sea floor bottom “imagery”

(mosaics) and backscatter information.

The next steps for stewardship and

development of useful, derived

products have yet to be completed.

Imminently huge cumulative volumes

(on the order of petabytes) of data are

anticipated, without specific resources

identified to support long-term

stewardship. Metadata and associated

search and retrieval mechanisms have

not yet been designed. Resources will

also be required to allow for the

dissemination of an entirely new class

of data, with its idiosyncratic character

and its unexplored customer base.

Contingency Planning

Contingency planning efforts are

ongoing in the Commerce and

Transportation Goal. Mirrored sites

are being established, leading to

protection of certain data sets. Other

data such as side scan sonar and

multibeam, due to their potential data

volume and flux, will most likely be

treated as large-array data sets, and be

archived and mirrored in CLASS.

Hydrographic survey

inventory at NOAA’s Seattle

processing branch.

Hydrographic survey methods

have led to significant

increases in data volume.

Processing these data is

resource-intensive and

lagging behind acquisition

rates. Software tools currently

being tested may alleviate

this problem.

Although contingency plans have been

developed for all critical datasets,

incremental to substantial resources

will be required for the

implementation of many of these

plans.

Summary and 10-year

Objectives

Over the past five years, there has

been a concerted effort to educate

NOAA personnel on data management

needs and requirements. In the past,

data acquisition activities were fully

defined in project instructions but, in

many cases, the life cycles of those

data were not clearly laid out, nor

funding procured to ensure the health

of the data for the future. Change is

occurring; awareness of data

management requirements has risen

within NOAA through outreach,

increased communications, and

training. Discussions on metadata,

archival requirements, data

integration, and open source are now

commonplace. The datasets

supporting our Nation’s commerce

and transportation needs are more

accessible now than they have ever

been in the past. This is due to

technological advances and also

NOAA’s desire to meet both user

requirements and government

directives such as E-Gov and

Geospatial One Stop.

Fully automated real-time data

processing, analysis, data

management, and product distribution

systems must be created that are

extensible and flexible, and can

respond to existing and nextgeneration measurement technologies.

All present and future program data

need uniform, cross-referenced

metadata (e.g., attributes, maximum

resolution scales, accuracy tags), data

conversions to geospatial databaseready formats, Web-searchable

indices, primary and backup data

warehouses, and attention to long-term

digital and analog preservation. For all

critical online data sets, mirrored data

management systems must be installed

in order to eliminate a single point of

failure.

Data integration is of primary

importance across NOAA and with

other federal and local agencies. It is

imperative that we have the ability to

use data to support multiple needs,

providing access and derived products

useful to secondary users of the data.

Ongoing focused research and

development will continue to

maximize the quality and efficiency

with which NOAA acquires, manages,

and distributes its data and associated

products and services to ensure they

are accurate, reliable, secure, and

readily accessible to meet the stringent

demands of the transportation sector.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Year Surveys In Surveys Out Working Inventory
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 43

An effective and efficient support structure is necessary for us to achieve ourMission Goals. This support includes NOAA’s data collecting platforms and

information technology systems, as well as NOAA’s management and

administration.

NOAA environmental satellites, ships, and aircraft are the backbone of the

global Earth observing system, providing many critical mission support services.

Safe facilities and state-of-the-art information technologies are essential to NOAA’s

operations and service delivery. Mission support also includes integrating NOAA

homeland security capabilities into national plans, and maintaining emergency

response readiness.

We are committed to organizational excellence through management and

leadership across a “corporate” NOAA, and in service to the Nation. As mission

needs evolve, support services will remain strong.

NOAA Mission Goal:

Supporting

NOAA’s Mission

Provide critical support for

NOAA’s mission

• GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE ACQUISITION • POLAR SATELLITE ACQUISITION • SATELLITE SERVICES

• AIRCRAFT REPLACEMENT • FLEET REPLACEMENT • MARINE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE • AIRCRAFT SERVICES

• NOAA HEADQUARTERS • LINE OFFICE HEADQUARTERS • HOMELAND SECURITY

• ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES • FINANCIAL SERVICES • WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT • ACQUISITIONS AND GRANTS

• INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES • FACILITIES
44 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Overview

The Mission Support Goal

provides the support structure for

NOAA’s four Mission Goals. NOAA’s

observational platforms, dataprocessing systems, computing and

communication systems, financial and

administrative offices, and approach to

management provide the foundation

for evolving mission needs. The Goal

is organized into four Sub-goals

(above) that are integral parts of

NOAA’s strategic planning.

The Mission Support Goal also

applies NOAA expertise and services

to other areas, including national

security. NOAA is uniquely positioned

to provide essential products and

services to ensure U.S. ports and

coasts remain open and are protected.

In addition, NOAA—in partnership

with other agencies, organizations, and

emergency responders—provides a

coordinated suite of hazards-related

services. NOAA’s outreach, education,

and training programs are also vital in

Satellite Services Sub-Goal

• Geostationary satellite acquisition

• Polar satellite acquisition

• Satellite services

Fleet Services Sub-Goal

• Aircraft replacement

• Fleet replacement

• Marine operations and maintenance

• Aircraft services

Leadership Sub-Goal

• NOAA Headquarters

• Line Office headquarters

• Homeland Security

Mission Support Sub-Goal

• Administrative services

• Financial services

• Workforce management

• Acquisitions and grants

• Information technology services

• Facilities

NOAA Mission Support Sub-Goals

Note: Homeland Security is a matrixed

program.

hazards mitigation and emergency

preparedness.

The Mission Support Goal assessed

NOAA’s physical support (i.e.

observational platforms and facilities),

and determined Goal successes and

resource needs. Contributions to

national security, including cooperative

efforts with other agencies, were also

examined. NOAA’s overall

contingency planning was reviewed.

Specific data and information

management and technology issues are

discussed within other Goal

assessments.

NOAA Satellites

As the Nation’s civilian satellite

agency, NOAA’s orbital assets serve

dual roles as platforms for observation

sensors as well as communications

systems linking surface-based

observing systems. Continuous global

satellite coverage is essential to

maintain the health and safety of our

NOAA Command and Data Acquisition Center,

Fairbanks, Alaska
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 45

Nation. NOAA satellites also provide

critical environmental data

fundamental to the understanding of

Earth processes. In the last two years,

NOAA launched two new Polarorbiting Operational Environmental

Satellites (POES), NOAA-17 and

NOAA-18. Resource assessment is

continual as new programs move

forward.

NOAA uses a formal satellite

requirements-management process to

identify validated environmental

satellite observation requirements and

allocate these to specific observational

systems. These include satellite-based

observations of all regions of Earth’s

atmosphere; Earth’s oceans, coasts,

and inland waters, and land masses;

and, observations of the sun and nearEarth space environment. Early

planning, accompanied by rigorous

risk-reduction activities, are essential

for satellite programs. Equally

important is the thorough

establishment of a comprehensive

scientific data stewardship program

that includes long-term access and

archive infrastructure. End-to-end

management starts with the

requirements process and ends with the

access and archive of these data.

Challenges come with the high volume

of data, and the need for innovative

access technologies. Resource

assessment is continual as new

programs move forward.

NOAA Ships and Aircraft

NOAA is also responsible for the

largest fleet of research and survey

ships operated by a federal agency.

NOAA’s fleet supports a wide range of

marine activities, including fisheries

and coastal research; nautical charting;

and long-range ocean and climate

studies. NOAA aircraft provide varied

research and survey capabilities,

NOAA-18, launched in May 2005, carries

a five-channel Advanced Very High

Resolution Radiometer imager. All

spacecraft mechanisms, monitored via

ground telemetry in the NOAA Launch

Control Room in Suitland, Maryland,

were successfully deployed. The image

on the right is the first image produced

by NOAA-18 a few hours after being

launched from Vandenberg Air Force

Base in California. The spacecraft

underwent a comprehensive on-orbit

verification period through July 2005.

including those used for water

resource management, coastal

mapping, and marine mammal

surveys. These aircraft are unique in

their ability to support NOAA’s

hurricane surveillance and

atmospheric research programs.

NOAA’s fleet, combined with

chartered government, university, and

private commercial sources, enables

NOAA to carry out its responsibilities

under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act,

Marine Mammal Protection Act,

Endangered Species Act, and

Hydrographic Services Improvement

Act. NOAA ships and aircraft are

cost-effective and have demonstrated

a sterling safety record. The fleet

NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown is a

multipurpose research vessel capable

of supporting physical, chemical, and

biological oceanography; atmospheric

and climate research; marine

acoustics; marine geology and

geophysics; bathymetry; and a host of

multidisciplinary environmental

investigations in coastal and deep

ocean regions.
46 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

operates well beyond the normal

service life of comparable research

and survey craft. The NOAA Fleet

Modernization Plan, currently under

review, documents program

requirements for successful

continuation of NOAA’s multidisciplinary missions, including

replacing aging ships and aircraft.

Facilities

NOAA operations are conducted

in more than 800 facilities in the

United States and its Territories. Of

these, 437 are NOAA-owned. The new

NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in

Suitland, Maryland, is nearing

completion. The Satellite Operations

Control Center provides command,

control and communications for

GOES, POES, and the Department of

Defense’s Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program (DMSP). It is also

home to the computer facility

processing satellite data supporting

meteorology, oceanography, and solarterrestrial sciences.

By the end of 2006, NOAA will have

completed expansions to the Pacific

Tsunami Warning Center, supporting a

24x7 operation, and expansions to the

National Data Buoy Center’s industrial

building, providing additional floor

space for the tsunami warning buoy

production effort, and complete

construction of a backup TOC,

providing critical continuity of

operations.

The average age of NOAA-owned

facilities is more than 35 years. In

addition, due to NOAA’s overall

mission, many facilities housing

NOAA operations are located near the

coasts, resulting in exposure to severe

weather, salt, and sand. The aging of

the NOAA real estate portfolio results

in numerous issues including energy

efficiency, hazardous materials

mitigation, and the increasing cost of

repairs, renovation, and

reconstruction necessary to meet the

demands of the current mission. These

issues are addressed in the NOAA

Facilities Master Plan currently under

review. The plan defines a

quantitative description of the current

real property inventory, the 17 major

projects planned or currently under

construction, and a master inventory

of repair and alterations. The plan

identifies strategic solutions.

NOAA and Homeland

Security

As NOAA is increasingly

integrated into national security

planning, new and compelling

dimensions are added to the need for

sound data management practices.

NOAA leverages expertise,

capabilities, and assets to advance the

state of national readiness. NOAA

identified the following set of Priority

Mission-Essential Functions as directly

supporting national functions.

• Provide timely observations,

forecasts, watches, and warnings of

severe weather and

hydrometeorological and

electromagnetic events.

• Provide control and timely access

to global environmental data from

satellites and other sources to

promote, protect, and enhance the

Nation’s economy, security,

environment, and quality of life.

• Ensure the Nation’s food supply

receives essential protein produced

and processed by the fishing

industry; provide law enforcement

activities to protect and conserve

the Nation’s marine resources; and

support national security

emergencies.

NOAA WP-3D Orion on the tarmac. WP-3D are equipped with scientific

instrumentation, radars, and recording systems for both in situ and remote

sensing measurements of the atmosphere, Earth, and its environment. These

aircraft are on standby or deployed for hurricane research and

reconnaissance 120 days each year.

The NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) took on an intense hurricane

season in 2004, and came out flying high. Four major hurricanes struck

Florida within a six-week period (September through October): Charley,

Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. AOC continued operations despite having to

evacuate each time. The House and Senate twice recognized the work of

NOAA and AOC during these 2004 hurricanes.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 47

• Provide geodetic, hydrographic,

and oceanographic data and

services to promote safe navigation

of commerce and transportation.

NOAA has identified more than 50

capabilities that advance the Nation’s

security efforts. NOAA applies these

already existing programs and

technologies in new and innovative

ways to assist the U.S. Department of

Homeland Security (DHS). In

addition, NOAA has actively partnered

with many other federal, state, and

local agencies addressing security and

emergency response issues.

Maritime and Navigation

Response

The National Security Presidential

Directive–41/Homeland Security

Presidential Directive–13 mandates

the development of a National

Strategy for Maritime Security. Eight

Policy Action Working Groups are

developing the National Strategy and

implementation plans. One of these,

Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA)

will ensure interagency coordination

of homeland security policy and

requirements in marine areas.

NOAA assisted the U.S. Coast Guard

and U.S. Navy in implementing the

MDA. The National Plan to Achieve

Maritime Domain Awareness has been

developed to facilitate and support

sound decision-making. The Plan

defines MDA as “the effective

understanding of anything associated

with the global maritime domain that

could impact the security, safety,

economy, or environment of the

United States.” This National Plan

embraces much of NOAA’s everyday

mission. The Plan clearly recognizes

the value of utilizing existing data

systems and information sharing

across classification boundaries.

NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard also

entered into an agreement to develop,

install, operate, and maintain marine

two-way communications systems on

NOAA data buoys to relay Automated

Identification System (AIS) data

through satellite links to the Coast

Guard for vessel tracking. AIS is a

shipboard system that broadcasts

vessel data such as name, course,

speed, and call signal to other AIS

vessels and stations to avoid collisions

at sea. The installation of satellite

relays on NOAA data buoys will

expand the Coast Guard capability to

monitor and track vessels approaching

U.S. Territorial waters well beyond the

previous limit of line of site.

At the request of the U.S. Navy,

NOAA’s Shallow Water Survey Craft

Project now provides specialized side

scan sonar imagery in 34 strategic

commercial shipping ports. NOAA

hydrographic ships and Navigation

Response Teams (NRTs) currently

have the capability to collect highresolution depth data and imagery and

routinely perform hydrographic

multibeam and side scan sonar

surveys, updating NOAA navigational

charts that support our Nation’s

commerce. NOAA outfitted several

NRT vessels with a selected suite of

hull-mounted sonar systems and

associated navigation, data collection,

data processing, and data storage

systems to enable NOAA to respond

more quickly to coastal emergencies.

NOAA is also collaborating with the

Coast Guard in a pilot program to use

hydrographic survey technology for

mine detection in restricted port areas.

NOAA’s survey data serves as a

baseline of pre-existing objects. This

enables more effective mine

countermeasures in a threat condition.

“Maritime Domain Awareness is

achieved by (1) collecting,

analyzing, and disseminating data,

information, and intelligence to

decision makers, and (2) applying

functional and operational

knowledge in the context of known

and potential threats. A United

States Government MDA capability

that is integrated, interoperable, and

efficient, coupled with continually

improving knowledge is required to

meet today’s mission requirements.”

—from National Plan to Achieve

Maritime Domain Awareness
48 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

High-resolution depth data support

multiple NOAA and DHS activities.

An additional NOAA capability with

dual application is the Vessel

Monitoring System (VMS), which

uses global positioning system,

satellite communications, and a secure

network to monitor fishing vessel

compliance. Marine enforcement and

homeland security may soon use this

evolving capability to support twoway message communications

between vessels and tracking

suspicious vessels at sea. The

expanded VMS would relay near realtime data to the Coast Guard for

enforcement and homeland security

programs.

Aerial Remote Sensing

In addition to the NOAA satellite

assets, NOAA continues to use Light

Detection and Ranging elevation data

and high quality aerial photography in

support of homeland security surveys.

These technologies can be used to

protect critical infrastructure, aid in

disaster response and recovery efforts,

verify dispersion modeling, and

provide high-resolution maps in

support of special security events.

Hazards Alerts, Forecasts, and

Dispersion Modeling

NOAA broadcasts warnings, watches,

forecasts, and other hazard information

24 hours a day via a nationwide

network of radio stations. NOAA

Weather Radio (NWR), working with

the Federal Communications

Commission’s Emergency Alert

System, serves as an all-hazards public

warning system. In June 2004, NOAA

signed an agreement that allows DHS

to send critical DHS-originated

emergency messages directly through

the NWR. “All hazards” messages now

include:

• natural events (e.g., tornadoes,

hurricanes, floods, mud slides,

volcanic activity, earthquakes);

• technological accidents (e.g.,

chemical spills, biohazardous

releases, oil spills, nuclear power

plant emergencies, maritime

accidents, train derailments);

• AMBER alerts; and,

• terrorist attacks.

To complement NWR’s new national

security messaging capabilities,

NOAA, DHS, and the U.S.

Department of Education are initiating

a pilot program that will provide

NOAA NWR receivers to public

schools in 10 to 15 cities, and two to

three rural states.

NOAA has linked its three operational

air dispersion models to support

emergency planners and first

responders in detecting and tracking

chemical and biological weapons in

the atmosphere. In addition, NOAA

continues to help emergency

responders plan for possible (or

mitigate existing) chemical or

biological spills near the coast. NOAA

is also integrating real-time weather

models and hazardous plume

predictions to provide the DHS with

the capacity to use reverse 911

technologies. The NOAA Weather

Forecast Office in Sterling, Virginia,

will be able to provide DHS with toxic

plume dispersion information and

geographically-specific areas. These

real-time weather models and air and

water dispersion models predict the

movement of hazardous materials, and

their environmental human impact.

Monitoring stations have been

installed in Washington, D.C. to

support one of the first dispersion

Central California

1-meter resolution Lidar Digital Terrain model

NOAA uses Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology for

high-resolution topographic mapping. LIDAR is an active sensor that

transmits laser pulses to a target and records the time it takes for

the pulse to return to the sensor receiver. The LIDAR sensor,

integrated with GPS and inertial measurement unit technology, are

mounted to the bottom of aircraft. LIDAR images provide crucial

safety information at emergency event sites, such as unstable

structures and debris fields. NOAA also uses LIDAR to assess poststorm damage to beaches and structures, and map airspace

obstructions for the Federal Aviation Administration.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 49

forecasting systems specifically

designed for urban areas. Collectively,

these stations, known as DCNet,

collect and analyze standard

meteorological data (as well as wind

speed, direction, and turbulence data)

at frequent intervals to help define

downwind areas of potential high risk.

In doing so, DCNet allows users to

gain a better understanding of how

hazardous trace gases and particles are

dispersed in urban areas.

Interagency Cooperation

Another important component of

NOAA’s national security efforts

involves forming collaborative

partnerships with other federal, state,

and local entities. This includes the

Interagency Modeling and

Atmospheric Assessment Center

(IMAAC), NOAA Fisheries Office for

Law Enforcement (OLE), and the

Homeland Security Operations Center

(HSOC). NOAA is now helping to

organize and coordinate federal

emergency response through the

IMAAC, which will provide decision

makers with custom products and a

single point of contact for all-hazards

dispersion modeling predictions and

assessments. NOAA OLE agents

support investigative, security, and

search and recovery efforts in

collaboration with other federal

agencies. Since June 2004, NOAA

staff members have supported the

HSOC, which provides operational

communications, information, and

resource coordination for domestic

incident management. Specifically,

NOAA provides environmental/

weather forecasts and air dispersion

vulnerability assessments to HSOC.

NOAA works closely with partners

before, during, and after emergency

situations.

Contingency Planning

NOAA requires sound data

management practices and robust

contingency planning to enable

execution of the above services and

capabilities. It is the policy of the

United States, as stated in Federal

Preparedness Circular 65, Federal

Executive Branch Continuity of

Operations, June 15, 2004, to have a

comprehensive and effective program

to provide continuity of functions

under all circumstances. COOP

includes plans and procedures that

“provide for the safekeeping of vital

records and databases; identify

alternate operating facilities; provide

for interoperable communications and

validate capability through test,

training, and exercises. All agencies

are required to have in place a viable

COOP capability to ensure continued

performance of essential functions

from alternate operating sites during

any emergency or situation that may

disrupt normal operations.”

NOAA’s Homeland Security Program

Office (HSPO), within the office of

the Chief Information Officer,

manages the COOP for NOAA.

Responsibilities assigned to the HSPO

include coordination of all plans,

programs, and policies regarding

homeland security. In addition, the

HSPO promulgates policy and

direction on NOAA continuity

requirements and assures capabilities

through a series of training, drills,

alternate operating facilities, and

implementation of management

practices providing command and

direction.

As a scientific agency, NOAA’s

operations depend on the

infrastructure supporting acquisition

Increased awareness of hazardous weather and its potential impacts

are vital to the public and emergency managers. NOAA maintains

direct contact with these groups, providing formal and informal

training on many topics, increased data availability, information

management, and feedback to effectively adapt to evolving needs.

The outreach supports NOAA’s Mission Goals, and also involves the

public in co-ownership of homeland security efforts. As an example,

“Introduction to Hurricane Preparedness” is training that is jointly

sponsored by NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA, Department of Homeland Security). The course

targets local and state personnel responsible for hurricane mitigation

and response. Course topics include hurricane meteorology,

hurricane hazards, and hurricane planning activities.
50 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NOAA 2005–2010 Strategic Plan

Long-Term Mission Support Strategies:

• Provide timely and effective acquisition and delivery of satellite-derived

information that supports requirements from the Mission Goals.

• Provide applied research to ensure the quality, reliability, and accuracy of current

and future satellite products and services to support the Mission Goals.

• Use effective and efficient approaches to meet NOAA requirements for ship and

aircraft support.

• Provide timely and accurate policy, guidance, and information on safety issues

affecting NOAA, its customers, and its contractors.

• Formulate and maintain policies, procedures, plans, and processes, including

inspections and training, to safely collect data using ships, boats, aircraft, and

divers.

• Coordinate NOAA’s homeland security-related plans, programs, and policies to

enhance NOAA-wide program response, risk management, continuity of

operations, and other contingency planning, and program infrastructure.

• Plan for, construct, and maintain facilities, including co-locating facilities among

NOAA entities and external partners to allow for consolidation of services.

• Lead agency-wide efforts in education and outreach, public affairs, legislative

affairs, international affairs, and legal affairs.

• Develop and maintain an Information Technology Enterprise that does the

following: fully supports the life cycle of NOAA’s programs; is secure, reliable,

and cost-effective; encourages information sharing; and complies with all

applicable policies.

• Implement a strategic approach that attracts and maintains a competent and

diverse workforce and creates an environment that develops, encourages, and

sustains employees as they work to accomplish NOAA’s strategic goals.

• Adopt a functional management model to deliver administrative and financial

services that will establish direct lines of accountability from headquarters

business line managers to all NOAA financial and administrative staff located in

the field.

• Employ a planning, programming, budgeting, and execution system to enhance

NOAA’s capabilities and to guarantee effective delivery of needed products and

services.

• Improve the efficiency, accountability, and transparency of administrative

programs and services through process optimization and customer satisfaction

assessment.

of data, connectivity, information

processing, interpretation, and

delivery of resultant findings to

supported activities. Identification of

environmental changes requires access

to current observational data and

access to baseline data from archived

data on environmental conditions. The

operational nature of NOAA’s Priority

Mission Essential Functions requires

either uninterrupted service, or in

some instances, reinstatement of

services within a few hours. To assure

uncompromised access to required

observations, archive datasets, models

and other systems, NOAA is exploring

the implementation of NOAANET

designed to both enhance daily

operations and ensure continued

access to systems and data.

NOAA has supported, and will

continue to support the Nation with its

hazardous material spill response

capabilities; atmospheric and

waterborne dispersion forecasting;

vessel monitoring systems, and

support for communities and

emergency responders. NOAA is also

ready to serve the Nation through its

NOAA ships, aircraft, global

observing systems, and professional

law enforcement officers.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 51

Commerce and

Transportation

Part 2: Improvement

Strategies

What we do in the next 50 years may determine Earth’s environmental destiny. However, what we do in the

next 10 years may determine what is possible in the next 50. NOAA is working with local, national, and

international partners to strengthen cooperation in, and integration of, Earth observations.

We must have the agility to respond to

emerging needs as we continue to

provide services vital to the Nation.

Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. USN (ret)

NOAA Administrator

NOAA 2007 Annual Guidance Memorandum

Successes

Based on the data management

assessment, NOAA is doing a better

job of collecting and verifying

environmental observations, and

processing and transmitting these

observations as compared to four

years ago. Observations are generally

well calibrated and validated, and the

related products undergo quality

review based on accepted research or

statistical methods. NOAA has seen

significant improvements in corporate

planning for observations and data

management and began developing an

integrated Earth observing and data

management system. In 2001, NOAA

assessed its ability to plan for, collect,

ingest, catalog, validate, store, access,

and migrate data by major data stream.

Comparing the number of red, yellow,

and green cells from the 2001

assessment to 2005, one sees a

decrease in the percent of red cells and

an increase in the percent of yellow

and green cells. These advances are

due in part to ongoing modernization

programs such as AWIPS and NWS

TOC.

Challenges

NOAA still faces significant data

stewardship challenges. The rapid

pace of technological change and a

greater number of users with more

sophisticated requirements are both

challenges and a required part of the

solution. The assessment of data and

information management indicates,

while progress has been made across

virtually all Goals, there are

continuing challenges in several key

areas. NOAA must continue to meet

real-time responsibilities at the current

high level while addressing the

Status of NOAA data

management, based

on the 2001 assessment (by NOAA Line

Offices) and the 2005

assessment (by

NOAA Goals and

Programs). Not accomplished, or significant resources required

Partially accomplished or incremental increase in resources required

Able to accomplish with existing resources

2001 2005

39% 17%

28%

33% 49%

34%
52 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Need incremental

increase 

Requires substantial additional

resources 

5-Year

Plan

Maintain

& Monitor

Collect &

Rescue 

5-Year

Plan

Calibrate

& Validate

Appropriate

Formats

Complete

Metadata

5-Year

Plan

Long-term

Preservation

Data

Discovery

Access /

Disseminate

Ecosystems PP N

Climate FF F

Weather &

Water P P P

Commerce &

Transportation

F P P

End-to-End Environmental Data Management Functions

Observation Acquisition

& Transmission Scientific Data Management

Doing with

current resources

Archive & Access

NOAA Mission Goals

following challenges:

• Data Volume. Manage the

exponentially growing volume

and diversity of data.

• Rescue. Collect data at risk to

extend and fill in gaps in

environmental data records.

• Accessibility. Improve

accessibility to the long-term

archive, and provide clear

discovery of data and information

products.

• Integration. Enable integration

of quality observations and

products by adopting standards

and standards protocols.

• Metadata. Improve descriptions

of data, formats, and processing

steps to ensure long-term utility.

Manage Greater Data Volume

and Diversity

NOAA’s role in understanding,

observing, forecasting, and warning of

environmental events is expanding.

New technologies and observing

systems underpin the environmental

information and products that serve

society. NOAA faces challenges both

from the increases in remotely sensed

data brought about by instrumentation

and communications technology, and

from the diversity of data required to

engage effectively in managing the

Nation’s coastal and marine living

resources. NOAA expects a doubling

of data every year for the next several

years from new environmental

observing systems spanning NOAA’s

observational domains. Satellite

operators, including NOAA, are

developing more powerful instruments

for remote sensing of the atmosphere,

oceans, land, and space. These

• A green cell indicates that the Goal is accomplishing 100% of the required activity or is able to do so with current resources.

• A yellow cell indicates that the activity is partially accomplished or an incremental increase in resources is required to reach the

100% level.

• A red cell indicates that the activity is not accomplished or that significant new resources are required.

• 5-Year Plan columns are F, plan completed and in place; P, partly completed; and N, no plan in place.

2005 Data Management Assessment Summary

2005–2015 Data Management

Challenges
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 53

systems are expected to collect and

transmit data at the rate of

approximately 20 megabits per second

(mbps), an order of magnitude

increase from the current rate of data

transfer (1–2 mbps). To collect,

process, transmit, store, distribute, and

use this increased volume of data

effectively, NOAA, in concert with

our partners in the private and public

sector, must pursue technological

improvements in communications,

data compression, processing, and

archiving.

Current estimates from CLASS predict

data archive growth to more than

160,000 terabytes (TB) by 2020.

NOAA is addressing increases in the

data archive with technological

advances from the private sector such

as high-density, robotic tape systems.

However, significant challenges

remain in describing, integrating,

reprocessing, and enabling both realtime and archival access to these data

so society can derive the full benefit of

these national assets.

As shown in the 2005 Data

Management Assessment Summary

chart (previous page), NOAA also

faces significant challenges related to

acquiring, describing, and archiving

the biological and ecological data

required to protect, restore, and

manage living coastal and ocean

resources. To engage in an ecosystembased approach to the Nation’s coastal

and marine resources, NOAA needs

comprehensive fisheries-related

environmental observations, continued

research on protected species and

marine mammals, and studies on

climate change and environmental

variability. NOAA is working with

public and private partners, including

the IOOS Regional Associations to

provide data access, transport, and

delivery for the Pacific Coast Ocean

Observing System (PaCOOS).

PaCOOS is the ecosystem observing

backbone of IOOS for the California

Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

Space

Atmosphere

Ocean Surface

Land Surface

NOAA Information Service Enterprise

Undersea

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Calendar Year

Volume (terabytes)

Model data 

Mesonet (state, local,

private)

In-Situ (Federal)

NEXRAD

DMSP

Ocean Data 

GOES

POES

METOP

NPOESS 

NPP

NASA EOS (MODIS)

Large-array data

growth expected

over 15 years.

Current estimates

predict data

archive growth to

more than 160,000

TB by 2020.

NOAA’s Observation Domains
54 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Extend the Environmental

Record

In addition to managing the increasing

flow of data, NOAA must ensure its

data and resulting products are

accurate. This includes the

reprocessing of past data and

identifying and filling gaps to create

high-quality long-term records of our

environment. NOAA faces challenges

in reprocessing data—addressing

changes in instrumentation and

observing capabilities.

In addition, much of the older data are

stored on deteriorating or poorly

accessible media. NOAA’s CDMP

partners with the private sector for the

digitization of at-risk data. In 2005,

NOAA supported 51 CDMP projects.

NOAA resources are required to

prepare data for digitization, and to

review data quality after digitization,

before making data available online.

Both skilled stewards and smart

technology are necessary to extend the

environmental record.

Improve Accessibility

To realize the full benefit of its data,

NOAA must support Earth observing

systems with robust data transmission

and complex, but flexible, data

management systems. Developments

in communication technologies by the

commercial sector over the last decade

have led to significant gains in the

ability to access national data archives

and real-time observations. However,

exponential future growth in

observations, model guidance, and

demand for real-time access to these

products will require continuous

technology investments to protect

recent gains.

NOAA faces a major challenge in

enabling interoperability between

legacy systems and emerging data

systems. This lack of system

interoperability, across NOAA and

across agencies, hampers the

collaborations enabled by

technological gains. As supercomputers enable increases in the

temporal and spatial resolution of

models, and demands increase for

online access to large-array data,

communication technologies and data

management techniques must also

evolve. Modernizing NOAA’s data

management through such programs

as the Environmental Data Systems

Modernization and TOC will address

many of these challenges.

NOAA faces challenges from new

environmental observation programs

related to living marine resources,

space and terrestrial weather, tsunami,

and other environmental hazards.

Many of these data system challenges

will be addressed in the context of the

national integrated ocean, surface, and

upper-air observing systems.

Technology and system developments

will support the Federal Enterprise

Architecture (FEA), and the U.S.

NOAA’s 2005 CDMP Projects

National Environmental

Satellite, Data, and Information Service (10)

NOAA’s National Climatic

Data Center (21)

Ocean and Atmospheric Research (3)

National Weather Service (5)

National Marine

FisheriesService (5)

National Ocean Service (7)

India’s nighttime lights from three years (1992, 1998, and 2003)

in a color composite. Color tones indicate changes in lighting

between years.

NOAA reprocesses historical data from the U.S. Air Force

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program for multiple uses. The

lights provide a unique capability for detecting human

settlements and activities such as fires, gas flares, and heavily lit

fishing boats. The data are being used to model global

population, density, the distribution of impervious surface area,

and in estimating land development rates.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 55

Group on Earth Observations

(USGEO), and Group on Earth

Observations (GEO) activities.

Implementing these frameworks will

take time, effort, and resources.

Enable Integration

NOAA is working with local, national,

and international partners to

strengthen cooperation in Earth

observations. NOAA must enable

integration of data across its

observational domains and timescales

to guarantee the best coverage and

quality of Earth observing data.

Integration and interoperability will be

achieved through common protocols,

hardware, and software, as well as the

use of data and metadata standards.

NOAA has begun this process by

adopting a common enterprise-wide IT

architecture, but significant work

remains over the next decade. One

major obstacle to integration is the

lack of scientific lexicons describing

data and observation parameters from

NOAA’s diverse observing

environments and disciplines.

Improve Data Description

One of the major challenges of data

management is ensuring the data

collected remain accessible and

usable. Acquiring data is no longer the

major hurdle. Managing, validating,

integrating, understanding, and

reprocessing data are the new

challenges. Scientists and policymakers expect ready access to online

data, including data mining tools, and

the documentation necessary for

understanding data (i.e., the where,

when, how, and why describing data

and instrumentation, including

limitations, processing, and calibration

methods). Documenting data is critical

in preserving its usefulness through

time.

As new sensor technologies are

implemented, intercomparison of old

and new technologies must be

available. The data management

challenge is not to store the data for

history, but to keep data alive for the

research community to continually

exercise and apply to societal needs.

Our Nation makes a large initial

investment in the acquisition of data,

an information asset NOAA must

safeguard for current and future

generations. Sustained and integrated

Earth observations, supported by

science and technology, will lead to

societal benefits.

NOAA is better prepared now to

ensure the reliable and efficient flow

of quality data from observation

source to real-time products. NOAA

faces ongoing challenges in managing

increasing diversity and volumes of

data, enabling data integration, and

addressing real-time dissemination

demands. Significant challenges

remain in data reprocessing and

rescue, essential for extending the

environmental record.

NOAA is in the initial stages of

developing and implementing an

integrated data management system,

based on common IT architecture and

common processes. This will address

many of the challenges identified in

the assessment. However, proper data

stewardship also involves an

understanding of the data’s scientific

value and thoughtful management for

future use.

Near-Term Implementation

Goals

NOAA’s long-term objective is

integrated information services

delivering effective, efficient decisionsupport information where and when

needed. Work in this area is underway

today and will require concerted effort

in the future. Customer needs drive the

integration of NOAA information

across disciplines, time scales, and

federal, state, and local agencies.

NOAA should provide products,

services, and prediction capabilities

delivering specific regional and local

environmental information at all time

scales relevant to decision makers.

NOAA will take steps to accomplish

this goal, including addressing the

data management challenges identified



On-going feedback to optimize value and reduce gaps

Societal

Benefits

Predictions

Earth System

Models

Earth

Observation

Systems





Decision

Support

Observations

DATA MANAGEMENT

Decisions

& Actions
56 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

in the assessment. To accomplish this,

NOAA will focus the next few years

on the following implementation

goals.

Identify and address integration

gaps

NOAA is in the process of identifying

technological and scientific integration

gaps. NOAA will address these gaps

and enable improved access to multidisciplinary data and coupled model

results so the scientific community can

perform systematic comparisons.

Create interoperability across

NOAA

NOAA can foster interoperability by

integrating key capabilities, loosely

combining legacy systems while

developing new ways to support

access to valuable data assets. NOAA

will invest in developing sustainable

interoperability across the federal

government and partner organizations.

Develop and adopt standards

for formats and terminology

NOAA subscribes to the value of, and

need for, corporate standards. NOAA

will define a process for adopting

standards that is open and inclusive,

favoring existing information

technology and scientific standards.

Integrate measurements, data,

and products

NOAA will provide easier and more

cost-effective access to all of its data

and information. NOAA will ensure

data and products are collected and

managed in accordance with policies,

procedures, and standards that support

and enhance integration.

Examine future data

management requirements

Data management consists of two

major activities conducted in

coordination: (1) data management

services, and (2) data stewardship.

• Data management services occur

at all phases of data collection and

include adhering to agreed-upon

standards; ingesting data,

developing collections, and creating

products; maintaining data bases;

ensuring a permanent, secure

archive; providing both userfriendly and machine-interoperable

access; assisting users; migrating

services to emerging technologies;

and, responding to user feedback.

• Data stewardship consists of the

application of rigorous analyses and

oversight to ensure that datasets

meet the needs of users. This

includes documenting measurement

and processing practices (metadata);

providing feedback on observing

system performance; validating

datasets through intercomparisons;

reprocessing (e.g., incorporate new

data, apply new algorithms, perform

bias corrections, integrate/blend

datasets from different sources or

observing systems); and,

recommending corrective action for

errant or non-optimal operations.

These activities constitute a

comprehensive end-to-end process of

movement of data and information

from the observing system sensors to

data users, including the acquisition,

cataloging, documentation, quality

control, validation, reprocessing,

storage, retrieval, dissemination, and

archival of data. NOAA will examine

data management requirements to

improve our management of the

Nation’s environmental data assets.

NOAA’s IT Enterprise Network
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 57

Technological Components

NOAA’s near-term goals address

the challenges of integration and

accessibility. In order to accomplish

these goals and achieve the long-term

objective of integrated data and

information management, NOAA must

also address the data volume, data

gaps, and metadata challenges

identified in the assessment. NOAA

has specific programs, such as

CLASS, TOC, and CDMP, to address

some of these challenges, but must

direct additional resources as required

through the programming, planning,

budgeting, and execution process.

The basis of NOAA’s modernization

plan is a robust, secure, common IT

infrastructure supporting Web-based

applications to acquire, process, and

deliver data and information. NOAA is

developing a baseline architecture for

data management systems, with

agency-wide information gathering

underway at the beginning of FY

2006. Likewise, NOAA will analyze

the data management systems, identify

gaps and overlaps, establish priorities,

and develop the data management

systems target architecture.

NOAA is preparing an enterprise-wide

data management plan. The plan aims

to retain existing systems where

practical, while building a standardsbased software infrastructure linking

systems together. This service-oriented

software architecture loosely couples

independent programs to create

scalable, extensible, interoperable,

reliable, and secure systems. NOAA is

committed to providing easy access to

integrated data and information. One

method to achieve this is to provide

data in common spatial formats.

NOAA is working with other federal

agencies to develop a geographic

information system profile for FEA.

NOAA is preparing for the explosive

large-array data growth expected over

the next 15 years. Current estimates

predict data volume will grow to more

than 160,000 TB by 2020. Efforts to

address this increase in large array

data on a program-level basis include

the TOC, CLASS, the Earth Observing

System (EOS) Data Archive, and the

NPOESS Data Exploitation Project.

Future NPOESS products will be

developed and tested in preparation

for NPOESS operations. By 2008, the

NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP)

will provide prototypical products.

While looking toward the future,

NOAA also recognizes that

application of tools and processes in

the near-term is critical. Initial

emphasis is on improving methods to

share and manage the data in our

current holdings. NOAA is

concurrently investing in technology

components such as spatially enabled

databases, Web-accessible open

geographic information systems, and

virtual data centers—enabling access

to geographically dispersed databases

through common software tools—to

improve browse, visualization, and

access to environmental data NOAAwide. NOAA is also focusing on

improving data compression and

spectral management to improve

transmission of, and access to, large

volumes of data in real-time.

Facility Requirements

Modern facilities and IT

infrastructure are essential for

collecting and processing the

environmental data required to

accomplish NOAA’s mission. In

addition, changes and advances in IT

infrastructure and facilities, including

data collection platforms, impact

NOAA’s data management methods

and capabilities. Technological

improvements and NOAA’s data

management capabilities must advance

together. During FY 2003–2005,

NPOESS: National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System.

NPOESS is a low-Earth orbit spacecraft

remote sensing platform, hosting up to

14 sensors. It will acquire

meteorological, environmental, and

associated data, including information

on cloud imagery, atmospheric profiles

of temperature and moisture, and other

specialized meteorological, terrestrial,

oceanographic, climatic, and solargeophysical data. Current launch date is

2009, with the NPOESS Preparatory

Project launch during 2006.
58 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NOAA improved observing systems,

platforms, and facilities. These

improvements are discussed in Part 1,

Mission Support Goal (page 45).

Implementation Activities

To accomplish our objectives,

NOAA has further refined its

corporate-wide processes over the last

two years. These processes set the

stage for modernization and

improvement across the agency.

NOAA revised its Strategic Plan,

established the Offices of Program

Planning and Integration, and Program

Analysis and Evaluation. NOAA also

established the Planning,

Programming, Budgeting, and

Execution System process. We are

linking our business processes to our

programmatic decisions and

investment planning. Integrated

information and data management, a

Cross-cutting Priority in the 2005–

2010 NOAA Strategic Plan, will be a

consideration in those determinations.

NOAA’s process to assess required

capabilities, compare them with

current capabilities, and then examine

the resulting shortfalls is becoming

more mature. Each program carefully

examines observing requirements and

ranks their contribution to the

achievement of NOAA’s mission

goals. Working with data users,

NOAA has identified more than 300

unique observing environmental

requirements. The users are involved

directly in developing our

requirements in NOAA’s Consolidated

Observation Requirements List.

NOAA is prioritizing requirements

and mapping requirements to systems.

NOAA is also capturing attribute

values to assist in meeting

expectations of users in terms of

frequency, timeliness, and accuracy—

all-important factors that measure and

manage information and data within

an enterprise information system.

Modernization Programs

NOAA has several new and

ongoing modernization programs

focused on improving the acquisition,

transmission, management, archive,

and dissemination of its environmental

data. These include AWIPS, TOC,

Environmental Data Systems

Modernization, the EOS Data Archive

and Access, and CDMP, CLASS, and

NPP. Under the DMC, NOAA’s Data

Management Integration Team is

developing a data management plan to

address key issues of integration, open

formats and standards, a common data

dictionary, and data flow. The systems

will be consistent with, and supportive

of, emerging national and international

frameworks. Key criteria evaluated for

compliance with these IT frameworks

are change, integration, convergence,

and business alignment. NOAA is

making improvements in all of these

areas, using open standards and

protocols, consistent business rules,

standard interfaces, sustained security,

connectivity, and interoperability

managed across the enterprise.

Integrated Observation and

Data Management System

During FY 2006, NOAA will begin

designing an integrated observation

and data management system. The

target architecture builds on existing

systems, leveraging new technologies

and standards-based development to

integrate data across NOAA’s

observing environments, enabling

NOAA’s Mission Goals to provide

timely and accurate products and

information. The target architecture

will be achieved through a series of

steps, repeated annually, designed to

gather, validate, prioritize, review, and

execute the best options to establish a

sustainable and affordable integrated

observation and data management

system.

NOAA will take full advantage of

opportunities presented by the Internet

to build a service-oriented software

infrastructure that will enable data

sharing and application

interoperability. This approach will

minimize impact while enabling

effective and efficient integration of

NOAA’s current systems, many of

which are critical to the national

interest and must continue to function

with no interruption of essential

services. This approach relies on a

well-ordered, standards-based data

and information infrastructure—

NOAA’s David Skaggs Research Center,

Boulder, Colorado
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 59

including the supporting IT

infrastructure.

Information Management Guide

Drawing on its experience in

developing the IOOS DMAC plan,

NOAA is preparing a guide on

integrated information management to

serve as a single point of reference for

data management. The guide will

include all relevant NOAA, national,

and international standards. NOAA’s

IT infrastructure design is intended to:

• Keep hardware and software

product mix and configuration as

simple as possible;

• Make the ongoing maintenance and

configuration management of

security implementations as

efficient as possible; and,

• Promote interoperability among

implementations.

NOAA anticipates the future

integrated system and evolving

technology will make access to

environmental data and information as

easy and effective as accessing

documents on the Web today. The

integrated observation and data

management system will be NOAA’s

contribution to the USGEO Integrated

Earth Observation System (IEOS).

Balanced Capabilities

The target system will also look

carefully at balanced capability across

the IT enterprise, so that the increases

in collection capability are also

complemented with related increases

in assimilation, modeling, and

distribution capabilities in order to

address user requirements. Our

integrated modeling capability

development maps back to user

requirements, and forward to the

development or acquisition of

standard toolsets and products. NOAA

intends to examine toolsets and data

management processes being

developed for the NPOESS and

GOES-R systems, and include them in

the core standard toolsets and data

management processes.

CLASS is a critical capability and a

key component of the infrastructure

supporting NOAA’s integrated

observation and data system,

providing permanent, secure storage,

and safe, efficient Web-based data

discovery to large-array data sets.

NOAA will also examine the potential

downstream expansion of CLASS

infrastructure to include observing

system data beyond its current

intended use.

Work is ongoing across many other

NOAA programs to ensure accurate,

timely, and consistent data and

products. Examples include PORTS,

MADIS, and NOMADS.

PORTS now monitors its 24/7

oceanographic observation systems,

performing automatic quality control

on many different types of data and

stopping availability to the public

when suspect data are detected. In

response to uncertain real-time

observation performance and

calibration, NOAA developed MADIS

to integrate meteorological data from

NOAA and many non-NOAA sources.

MADIS generates statistics that

characterize long-term stability and

accuracy of observing systems,

improving and automating data

validation. NOMADS will complete

the archive of numerical weather

prediction products from NCEP, and

integrate format-neutral and standardsbased capabilities into CLASS. Under

the CLASS umbrella, NOMADS

model data services will be scaled

toward a true, service-oriented

architecture.

National and International

Collaboration

NOAA works directly, and

coordinates with, other federal

organizations such as the U.S.

Geological Survey’s Earth Resources

Observation and Science Data Center;

NASA’s Distributed Active Archive

Center system; and the Department of

Energy’s Carbon Dioxide Information

Analysis Center. These activities occur

under the federal National Archives

and Records Administration (NARA)

umbrella for data preservation.

A NOAA–NASA Memorandum of

Understanding addresses

responsibilities for long-term

preservation of atmospheric and

U.S. global maritime trade is projected to more than double

before 2020. Currently, more than two billion metric tons of

domestic and international waterborne cargo move on U.S.

waterways each year.
60 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

National

and International

Data and Systems

Initiatives

• August 2003. The Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations (IWGEO), established

under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources, develops the U.S. 10-year plan and coordinates U.S. input into the GEO.

• April 2004. The Earth Observation Summit II adopts the GEO Framework identifying nine areas

of societal benefits.

• February 2005. The Earth Observation Summit III adopts the GEO 10-Year Implementation

Plan.

• March 2005. NSTC adopts USGEO as a subcommittee of the Committee on Environmental

and Natural Resources, formalizing and replacing the IWGEO.

• March 2005. The Integrated Ocean Observing System adopts a Data Management and

Communications Plan for Research and Operational Integrated Ocean Observing Systems.

oceanic data. NOAA and NASA also

participate in the Interagency Working

Group on Data Management for

Global Change whereby agencies have

agreed to build interoperability among

their data and information systems. In

addition, NOAA and NASA

collaborate in the development of the

Joint Center of Satellite Data

Assimilation, which accelerates the

research-to-operations timeline of

integrating new satellite observations

into operational numerical weather

prediction.

NOAA’s National Data Centers

(NNDCs) have formal federal

responsibility for archive,

management, and distribution of

climate, oceanographic, and

geophysical data and information.

Stewardship of these data conforms to

the rules, regulations, and procedures

of NARA. Significant amounts of

environmental data are also held

temporarily by NOAA Centers of

Data. The Centers of Data bring

specific scientific expertise to the

initial assimilation and management of

observational data. While not held to

NARA standards, Centers of Data are

held to high expectations of data

management before transferring data

to the appropriate Data Center.

The Climate Change Science Program

Office provides a mechanism for

federal coordination of climate data

preservation, recognizing NCDC as

the formal climate data center for

federal climate programs. The

Oceans.US coordinating umbrella

provides a similar federal coordination

mechanism for oceanographic data,

recognizing NODC as the data center

for oceanographic data.

The NNDCs are national and world

repositories of climate, oceanographic,

and geophysical data, operating seven

of the 15 World Data Centers (WDC)

in the U.S. The WDC system,

operated under the auspices of the

International Council on Science, now

comprises 52 Centers in 12 countries,

archiving and distributing

international observational data

including a wide range of solar,

geophysical, environmental, and

human dimensions data covering time

scales ranging from seconds to

millennia. These data provide baseline

information for research in many

disciplines.

In addition to the WDC system,

NOAA closely supports several other

intergovernmental and international

organizations. NOAA’s National Data

Centers cooperate with international

organizations to develop, archive, and

distribute global baseline data sets.

These include the World

Meteorological Organization (WMO)

for climate and sea ice global change

monitoring; the Intergovernmental

Oceanographic Commission (IOC),

which maintains the International

By 2007, NOAA will expand its Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of

Tsunamis network to 39 stations to cover the Pacific Ocean, Caribbean

Sea, and East coast of the United States, supporting GEO Task DI-0601.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 61

Operational view of NOAA’s target

architecture. National observing systems

will benefit from NOAA’s integrated

modeling and data management system,

and enhance NOAA’s four Mission Goals.

The reverse is also true. NOAA’s four

Mission Goals are critical components of

systems such as IOOS, ISOS, and IUOS,

which depend on improved integration of

NOAA data and observations.

The NOSC and DMC will ensure that

NOAA’s efforts are consistent with, and

supporting of, emerging national and

international frameworks such as GEOSS,

IEOS, and the Federal Enterprise

Architecture.

Tsunami Information Centre, hosted

by NOAA; and the International

Hydrographic Organization (IHO), an

intergovernmental consultative and

technical organization established to

support safety in navigation and the

protection of the marine environment.

 NOAA has a commitment to the

WMO’s World Weather Watch

Program, operating the World

Meteorological Center–Washington at

the National Centers for

Environmental Prediction. NOAA’s

National Data Centers share this

responsibility through their archive

and distribution duty. In addition,

NOAA’s NGDC is responsible for the

IHO Data Center for Digital

Bathymetry and regional mapping

projects.

NCDC serves as a GCOS Lead Data

Center. GCOS is the formal climate

component of the GEO and, as such,

coordinates a range of data

management, data archive, and

monitoring activities with data centers

in many countries including Australia,

Germany, Japan, and the United

Kingdom. NOAA’s participation in the

USGEO, along with other federal

agencies, will result in increased data

and information exchange and

migration toward adoption of common

tools and processes, benefiting both

the IEOS and GEOSS.

Through participation and leadership

in national observing efforts, including

IOOS, which is the U.S. contribution

to GOOS, ISOS, and IUOS, NOAA

can further integrate its observing

systems, data, and quality control with

efforts of other nations to guarantee

the best quality and coverage of Earth

observing data.

We will continue to work with local,

national, and international partners to

develop an integrated global-to-local

environmental and ecological

observation and data management

system that will continually monitor

the complex, symbiotic systems of the

ocean, atmosphere, and land.

Implementation Schedule

NOAA relies on advanced

observing systems, assimilation

capabilities, and numerical models to

accomplish its mission. All of these

efforts require, and therefore include,

data management as an integral part of

their operations. For example, orbiting

satellites include advanced data

acquisition, transmission, and

reception at ground stations, followed

by data processing, product generation

(often based on models), and
62 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

AWIPS

FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15

Software/Hardware Upgrade and Replacement

Enhancements and Software Re-architecture

Telecommunications Operations Center

Implement Legacy Replacement

Implement Backup at Mount Weather

NPOESS Data Exploitation

NPP Build Cycle

C1 Build Cycle

C2 Build Cycle

CDMP

Convert Non-Digital Data to Digital

CLASS

Core Design and Architecture

Metadata and Quality Assurance

Reprocessing

NPP

GOES-R

Metop-1 and -2

EOS-MODIS

NPOESS-C1

NEXRAD

In Situ

Environmental Data Systems Modernization

Virtual Data Systems

Scientific Data Stewardship

Program Name

Implementation schedule for NOAA data and information modernization projects.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 63

dissemination of data products to

customers.

NOAA identified several projects to

modernize data management. The

projects address real-time acquisition,

processing, and distribution;

modeling, reprocessing, and rescue;

and, description, archive, and access.

These modernization projects are a

critical part of the total NOAA data

management effort. Major milestones

and implementation dates for these

modernization projects are shown in

the implementation schedule chart.

Some of these data management

modernization activities are ongoing.

These include improved data

acquisition and delivery (e.g., AWIPS

and TOC), data rescue (e.g., CDMP),

data archive (e.g., CLASS and EOS),

and data system interoperability and

metadata (e.g., Environmental Data

Systems Modernization). These

various modernization efforts are in

differing stages of maturity, but all of

these capabilities support NOAA’s

development of a comprehensive,

coordinated, and sustained Earth

observation system to collect, process,

disseminate, and archive improved

data, information, and models.

The positive impacts of NOAA’s

modernization efforts are evident in

the results of the internal assessment.

For example, the Collect and Rescue

effort in the Climate Goal is green,

indicating adequate resource to

support this effort. This is due in large

part to the impact of CDMP, which

focused on the rescue of climate

records. The other three NOAA Goals

show yellow or red, indicating the

need for additional resources to

support their data rescue needs.

Similarly, the Access/Disseminate

activity is green for Weather and

Water, due in part to the success of the

TOC and AWIPS modernization

effort, while the other Goals show

additional resource requirements.

The assessment in Part 1 contains

more details on other examples of data

management modernization in the last

few years.

The first step in improving data

management is rapid, reliable

acquisition, processing, and

distribution of real-time data and

products. The ongoing improvements

to NOAA’s TOC and AWIPS help to

address these challenges. The TOC is

NOAA’s 24x7 nerve center for realtime environmental data

dissemination, monitoring the Global

Telecommunication System, AWIPS,

Wide Area Forecast System, NOAA

Weather Wire Service, and NWR

status. In addition to these national

and international circuits, the TOC

also maintains connectivity with the

Department of Defense, Federal

Aviation Administration, and

Department of Homeland Security.

During FY 2006–2007, the TOC will

complete the upgrade to message

switch capabilities and implement a

backup facility at Mount Weather,

Virginia, to ensure uninterrupted

operations and manage the increased

flow of data. The TOC replacement is

designed to meet future data volume

requirements, with expansion capacity

to 500 percent of the current average

traffic volume.

AWIPS processes and overlays

multiple data sources to allow local

Weather Forecast Offices and River

Forecast Centers to generate weather

and water forecasts and warnings. It

continually evolves to accommodate

new science and technology to meet

strategic goals. The ongoing AWIPS

modernization efforts include

increasing system performance,

functionality, and improving forecasts

and warning timeliness. The TOC and

AWIPS modernization efforts will

help ensure continuous acquisition and

dissemination of NOAA and other

domestic and foreign data and

products.

The NPOESS Data Exploitation

(NDE) and CLASS projects will

improve the efficiency of NOAA’s

environmental satellite data

processing, product dissemination,

archive, and access capabilities. NDE

is implementing a new ground system

that permits sharing of databases,

tools, and science across various

scientific disciplines. Once

established, the project’s approach to

data processing and dissemination will

set the stage for other observing

missions to share vast volumes of data

across their platforms. NDE organized

build cycles into phases for Customer

Coordination, Design, Construction,

Test, and Systems Integration. Each

phase has checkpoints for review and

approval of the set of deliverables for

that phase.

NDE will also improve metadata

generation to help meet the

requirement that all NPOESS

metadata abide by approved standards,

establish sound quality control
64 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

• CLASS architecture design, including System Documentation, was completed.

• NOAA delivered CLASS baseline systems to Suitland and Asheville with dual-site

configuration. Operational, test, and development environments were established in

Suitland.

• CLASS became operational with POES, DMSP, and GOES datasets, plus RadarSat

(Synthetic Aperture Radar) and SeaWiFS (Ocean Color Product).

• The TOC upgraded message switch capabilities to better serve federal and private

sector real-time environmental data needs.

• MADIS is now collecting, formatting, analyzing, assessing quality, and redistributing

real-time data from more than 13,000 non-NOAA surface Mesonet stations.

Selected

modernization

achievements

over the last two

years:

measures of the ingest data, and to

facilitate retrospective data processing

for scientific research and analysis.

Tools developed through NDE will

support the access and archive through

CLASS.

When operational, CLASS will

manage the archive; maintain the

metadata; and, support access to

retrospective environmental data

assets and products, including EOS.

CLASS will achieve this through a

common data access look and feel,

and an efficient architecture for

archive and distribution. CLASS will

foster the use of advanced

visualization and geospatial

information systems data discovery

techniques, and provide access to its

own archives as well as to other data

collections described in the metadata

repository. Performance tasks include

automated quality assurance processes

on ingested data to ensure readability,

detecting transmission errors, ensuring

compliance with data set format

agreements, and assessing record

quality indicators. CLASS supports

the efforts under development in the

Environmental Data Systems

Modernization project.

The Environmental Data Systems

Modernization project planned for FY

2006–2015 focuses on developing an

integrated, virtual NOAA data system

and improving the scientific

stewardship of NOAA data. The

Scientific Data Stewardship Program,

a new NOAA initiative in FY 2006,

will provide high-quality climatologies

of the atmosphere, oceans, and SunEarth geophysical environment. Tasks

include monitoring observing systems,

generating near real-time climate

records, reprocessing, and generating

new products—made possible by

extending the data record through

reprocessed or rescued data.

CDMP focuses mainly on converting

non-digital data and records (e.g.,

paper, microform, publications) to

digital formats for online access and

digital archiving, extending the data

record. During FY 2006–2015,

CDMP’s major function is to acquire

relevant data and metadata, converting

around 80–110 million records per

year, and making these data easily

accessible via the Internet.

Over the coming years, the results of

the data management assessment,

along with the other tools mentioned

in this report, will be used by NOAA

to develop implementation plans to

address significant data management

gaps. Some of these areas can be

addressed by evolving existing efforts;

others will require new modernization

efforts. The combination of

requirements-based programming,

implementation of an overarching IT

architecture, and careful assessments

of data management needs by NOAA

Program will lead to effective use of

existing resources and identification of

future needs.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 65

NOAA’s first assessment of data management

capabilities by Mission Goal provided

valuable insight into the progress and

challenges facing NOAA Programs today. NOAA has

made strides in the improved planning, acquisition, archive, and

dissemination of Earth environmental data. Based on the data

management assessment by NOAA Program, NOAA is better

Conclusion

prepared now to ensure the reliable and efficient flow of quality data from observation source to

real-time products to secure long-term archive and research efforts. Despite significant

improvements, NOAA still faces challenges in:

• managing growing data diversity and volume;

• collecting and rescuing data at risk;

• improving accessibility;

• improving data descriptions (metadata); and,

• enabling integration across platforms and disciplines.

NOAA is in the process of designing and implementing an integrated observation

and data management system of systems. The backbone of this system is a robust, secure IT

infrastructure. NOAA has developed an IT Enterprise Architecture and is now developing a NOAAwide data management plan to enable standards-based integrated access to data and information.

NOAA is in the process of documenting operational requirements, addressing the functionality of

our legacy observing and data management systems, and determining enterprise practices, policies,

standards, and protocols.

NOAA has a strategic plan in place and is currently developing an integrated data

management plan addressing the key next steps of:

• identifying and addressing integration gaps;

• creating interoperability across NOAA;

• developing and adopting standards for formats and terminology;

• integrating measurements, data and products; and,

• examining future requirements.

NOAA is committed to collecting and providing the highest quality environmental

data delivered in a secure and efficient manner and maintained in a stable, long-term archive for

future generations. Investments must focus on people, tools, and technology, and also an integrated

approach to observation and data management. This approach will ultimately serve a diverse set of

users, thereby realizing a wide range of benefits for our people, our economy, and the planet on

which we live.
66 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 67

NAO 212-15: Management of

Environmental and Geospatial

Data and Information

SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

This Order establishes a National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

policy for acquiring, integrating,

managing, disseminating, and archiving

environmental and geospatial data and

information obtained from worldwide

sources to support NOAA’s mission.

SECTION 2. SCOPE.

This Order applies to all NOAA

environmental and geospatial data and to

the personnel and organizations that

manage these data, including Line Offices,

Program Managers, NOAA National Data

Centers, and Centers of Data.

SECTION 3. POLICY.

.01 NOAA environmental and geospatial

data will be maintained in accordance with

applicable Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) regulations, including

OMB Circulars A-16 and A-130; Federal

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

approved data standards; Federal law

related to records management within

Federal agencies - Sections 3101-3107 of

Title 44 of the United States Code (44

U.S.C. 3101-3107); the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et

seq.); and National Archives and Records

Administration (NARA) Records

Management Regulations - Parts 1220-

1238 of Title 36 of the Code of Federal

Regulations (36 CFR 1220-1238).

.02 NOAA data management planning will

include end-to-end data stewardship.

.03 For major systems acquisitions, any

exception to including validated data

requirements shall be outlined in a

decision memorandum to the Under

Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere before funding is sought.

P.L. 102-567, SEC. 106: Data and

Information Systems

(c) NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR DATA

MANAGEMENT, ARCHIVAL, AND

DISTRIBUTION

(1) Not later than 12 months after the date

of enactment of this Act and at least

biennially thereafter, the Secretary of

Commerce shall complete an assessment

of the adequacy of the environmental data

and information systems of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In conducting such an assessment, the

Secretary shall take into consideration the

need to:

(A) provide adequate capacity to manage,

archive, and disseminate environmental

data and information collected and

processed, or expected to be collected and

processed, by the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration and other

appropriate departments and agencies;

(B) establish, develop, and maintain

information bases, including necessary

management systems, which will promote

consistent, efficient, and compatible

transfer and use of data;

(C) develop effective interfaces among the

environmental data and information

systems of the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration and other

appropriate departments and agencies;

(D) develop and use nationally-accepted

formats and standards for data collected

by various national and international

sources; and,

(E) integrate and interpret data from

different sources to produce information

that can be used by decision makers in

developing policies that effectively

respond to national and global

environmental concerns.

(2) Not later than 12 months after the date

of enactment of this Act and biennially

thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce

shall develop and submit to the

Committee on Commerce, Science, and

Transportation of the Senate and the

Committee on Science, Space, and

Technology of the House of

Representatives a comprehensive plan,

based on the assessment under paragraph

(1), to modernize and improve the

environmental data and information

systems of the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration. The report

shall:

(A) set forth modernization and

improvement objectives for the 10-year

period beginning with the year in which

the plan is submitted, including facility

requirements and critical new

technological components that would be

necessary to meet the objectives set forth;

(B) propose specific agency programs and

activities for implementing the plan;

(C) identify the data and information

management, archival, and distribution

responsibilities of the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration with

respect to other Federal departments and

agencies and international organizations,

including the role of the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration with

respect to large data systems like the Earth

Observing System Data and Information

System; and,

(D) provide an implementation schedule

and estimate funding levels necessary to

achieve modernization and improvement

objectives.

Appendix A. Legislative Mandates
68 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

SECTION 4. RESPONSIBILITIES.

.01 The NOAA Chief Information Officer

(CIO) shall be responsible for

implementing and managing this Order in

consultation with the CIO Council.

.02 Each NOAA Program Manager shall:

a. support NOAA’s mission for

stewardship of the Nation’s environmental

and geospatial data and information

throughout the process of acquiring,

archiving, integrating, and disseminating

such data and information;

b. develop a data management plan in

coordination with the appropriate data

center, specifying the data life cycle and

disposition of data and information for

each Program;

c. ensure that during the initial planning of

new Programs, NOAA Line and Staff

Office requirements for new data are

identified;

d. take appropriate steps to ensure

acceptable accuracy, precision,

representativeness, documentation, and

long-term continuity of NOAA’s quality

datasets for the user community;

e. be alert to and mitigate the risks caused

by changes of instruments, platforms,

locations, and methods for observing or

processing data;

f. comply with Section 515 of Public Law

106-554 to ensure and maximize the

quality of information disseminated by

NOAA - scientific procedures shall be

followed to ensure quality control and

calibration of the data; and,

g. cooperate with other agencies to ensure

compatibility between the recorded

observations of each agency to the

maximum extent practicable.

.03 Each Line Office shall determine, in

accordance with applicable law,

regulations, and policy; where, when, and/

or how its environmental and geospatial

data and information are archived and

how they are made available. Data are

considered, and are to be treated as,

corporate assets.

.04 NOAA National Data Centers and

Centers of Data shall:

a. maintain an environmental data and

information metadata catalog;

b. protect and preserve their

environmental data and information

holdings; and,

c. make their holdings accessible to users

under uniform guidelines.

SECTION 5. DEFINITIONS.

.01 Environmental Data - recorded

observations and measurements of the

physical, chemical, biological, geological,

or geophysical properties or conditions of

the oceans, atmosphere, space

environment, sun, and solid earth, as well

as correlative data and related

documentation or metadata. Media,

including voice recordings and

photographs, may be included.

.02 Geospatial Data - information that

identifies the geographic location and

characteristics of natural or constructed

features and boundaries on Earth. This

information may be derived from, among

other things, remote sensing, mapping,

and surveying technologies. Statistical

data may be included in this definition at

the discretion of the collecting agency.

.03 Information Quality - a term

prescribing requirements for objectivity

(accuracy and absence of bias), utility

(usefulness), and integrity (protection

from unauthorized disclosure or changes)

associated with data disseminated by

Federal agencies.

.04 NOAA National Data Centers are

major archives that maintain, process, and

distribute retrospective environmental and

geospatial data. The Centers provide

long-term stewardship for most of

NOAA’s environmental and geospatial

data and a broad range of user services.

The Centers serve as Agency Record

Centers subject to NARA-accepted

archive standards. NOAA National Data

Centers may be composed of two or more

archive facilities linked together through a

computerized wide area network.

.05 Centers of Data are facilities where

extensive collections of a given

environmental parameter(s) are

maintained because of individual or

institutional research or operational

requirements (e.g., the National Ice

Center). The Centers of Data, which are

not held to all the NARA archive

standards, must still adhere to basic good

stewardship practices including off-site

data backup and maintenance of adequate

environmental control and security for

their holdings. Centers of Data transfer

their data holdings to the NOAA National

Data Centers for permanent archiving

when continued storage at the Center of

Data is no longer appropriate.

.06 Program Managers, for purposes of

this Order, are those individuals who have

overall responsibility for the collection or

acquisition of data or information. This

responsibility extends from the Assistant

Administrator level down to the individual

manager who is most directly involved in

the conduct and outcome of a particular

Program (e.g., a specific field Program).

.07 Data management is the control of

data handling operations such as planning,

data acquisition, quality control and

validation, reprocessing, storage, retrieval,

and dissemination of data. Data

management services include maintaining

active data bases, documenting algorithm

development, providing interactive access

to both Program data and data from other

sources, data handling, and assisting

secondary users with access to collected

data.

SECTION 6. REFERENCES.

The Office of the Chief Information Office

(OCIO) will maintain a list of applicable

reference materials and will provide

access to their electronic editions on the

OCIO Web site at http://

www.cio.noaa.gov. The following items

are some of the primary reference

materials related to this Order.

.01 “Guidelines for Ensuring and

Maximizing the Quality, Objectivity,

Utility, and Integrity of Information

Disseminated by Federal Agencies” -

OMB issuance that implements Section
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 69

515 of Public Law 106-554; intended to

“provide policy and procedural guidance to

Federal agencies for ensuring and

maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility,

and integrity of information (including

statistical information) disseminated by

Federal agencies.’’

.02 NOAA Information Quality Guidelines

- NOAA’s policy and procedures document

implementing Section 515 of the Treasury

and General Government Appropriations

Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-

554).

.03 NOAA Information Technology

Architecture - contains the Archive and

Access segment; NOTE: restricted access -

those seeking access to the document must

obtain a user identification and password

from the OCIO.

.04 NOAA Records Disposition Handbook

- documents NOAA’s records disposition

schedules.

.05 Federal law related to records

management within Federal agencies (44

U.S.C. 3101-3107) and the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et

seq.).

.06 National Archives and Records

Administration (NARA) records

management regulations (36 CFR 1220-

1238).

.07 OMB Circular A-l6, Coordination of

Geographic Information and Related

Spatial Data Activities.

.08 OMB Circular A-130, Management of

Federal Information Resources.

.09 The E-Government Act of 2002 (44

U.S.C. 3602 et seq.) - promotes enhanced

access to Federal Government information

and services in a manner consistent with

laws and regulations.

SECTION 7. EFFECT ON OTHER

ISSUANCES: None.

(signed)

Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans

and Atmosphere

Office of Primary Interest: NOAA Office of

the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

P.L. 106-554: FY 2001

Consolidated Appropriations

Act

Sec. 515. (a) In General. – The Director

of the Office of Management and Budget

shall, by not later than September 30,

2001, and with public and Federal agency

involvement, issue guidelines under

sections 3504(d)(1) and 3516 of title 44,

United States Code, that provide policy

and procedural guidance to Federal

agencies for ensuring and maximizing the

quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of

information (including statistical

information) disseminated by Federal

agencies in fulfillment of the purposes

and provisions of chapter 35 of title 44,

United States Code, commonly referred to

as the Paperwork Reduction Act.

(b) Content of Guidelines. – The

guidelines under subsection (a) shall –

(1) apply to the sharing by Federal

agencies of, and access to, information

disseminated by Federal agencies; and,

(2) require that each Federal agency to

which the guidelines apply –

(A) issue guidelines ensuring and

maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility,

and integrity of information (including

statistical information) disseminated by

the agency, by not later than 1 year after

the date of issuance of the guidelines

under subsection (a);

(B) establish administrative

mechanisms allowing affected persons to

seek and obtain correction of information

maintained and disseminated by the

agency that does not comply with the

guidelines issued under subsection (a);

and

(C) report periodically to the Director –

(i) the number and nature of

complaints received by the agency

regarding the accuracy of information

disseminated by the agency; and

(ii) how such complaints were

handled by the agency.

Paperwork Reduction Act References in

the Data Quality Law

As quoted above, section 515 of the new

Data Quality law notes that its provisions

are in furtherance of certain key

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The

following are the PRA referenced in the

Data Quality law.

§ 3501. Purposes

“The purposes of this chapter are to –. . .

(2) ensure the greatest possible public

benefit from and maximize the utility of

information ... disseminated by or for the

Federal Government;. . .

(4) improve the quality and use of Federal

information to strengthen decision

making, accountability, and openness in

Government and society;. . .

(7) provide for the dissemination of public

information on a timely basis, on

equitable terms, and in a manner that

promotes the utility of the information to

the public and makes effective use of

information technology;. . .

(9) ensure the integrity, quality, and utility

of the Federal statistical system;. . .

(11) improve the responsibility and

accountability of the Office of

Management and Budget and all other

Federal agencies to Congress and to the

public for implementing the ... policies

and guidelines established under this

chapter.”

§ 3504. Authority and functions of the

Director. . .

“(d) With respect to information

dissemination, the Director shall develop

and oversee the implementation of

policies, principles, standards, and

guidelines to –

(1) apply to Federal agency dissemination

of public information, regardless of the

form or format in which such information

is disseminated; ....”

§ 3516. Rules and regulations

“The Director shall promulgate rules,

regulations, or procedures necessary to

exercise the authority provided by this

chapter.”
70 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Appendix B. Template for Assessing Data

Management, Archival, and Distribution

Environmental Data Management Report to Congress

Under Public Law (P.L.) 102-567 Section 106 (c) and (2), NOAA must complete and

report to Congress an assessment of the adequacy of our environmental data and

information systems. Many efforts are currently underway within NOAA to assess

requirements within our Programs, including the Program Baseline Assessments (PBA),

NOAA Observing System Architecture (NOSA), and NOAA’s Coordinated Observation

Requirements List (CORL). To reduce the impact of these numerous data calls and to

ensure a consistent message, we are asking Program Managers for help in preparing the

report to Congress. The attached questionnaire and worksheets, based on NOAA’s

response to P.L. 106-554 Section 515 (Information Quality Act) and P.L. 102-567

reporting requirements, will be used to evaluate the current and near-future environmental

data management requirements of each Program and develop an over-arching

understanding of both the current status and future needs for end-to-end data management

in NOAA. Your prompt attention and cooperation is essential to the success and quality of

this report to Congress and will provide input to several related efforts in data

management in NOAA. Thank you for your help.

Background

P.L. 102-567 Requirement: Every two

years NOAA will assess whether there is

adequate capacity to:

• manage, archive, and disseminate

environmental data and information

collected and processed, or expected

to be collected and processed, by the

NOAA and other appropriate

departments and agencies;

• establish, develop, and maintain

information bases, including

necessary management systems that

will promote consistent, efficient, and

compatible transfer and use of data;

• develop effective interfaces among

the environmental data and

information systems of NOAA and

other appropriate departments and

agencies;

• develop and use nationally accepted

formats and standards for data

collected by various national and

international sources; and,

• integrate and interpret data from

different sources to produce

information that can be used by

decision makers in developing

policies that effectively respond to

national and global environmental

concerns.

For the purpose of this report, we are

assessing the capacity at the Program level

and summarizing the Programs by NOAA

Goal. At the Program level, we are

assessing our capability to: (1) acquire

and transmit observations needed by the

Program (NOAA and non-NOAA source);

(2) validate and describe the observations,

scientific data, and products; and, (3)

archive and provide discovery and access

to these data and products in such a way

as to enable integration across platforms

and disciplines.

NOAA data streams are broken into the

following six categories modified from

P.L. 106-554 Section 515 (The

Information Quality Act):

1. Original Data are data in their most

basic, useful form. These are data from

individual times and locations that have

not been summarized or processed to

higher levels of analysis. While these data

are often derived from other direct

measurements (e.g., spectral signatures

from a chemical analyzer, electronic

signals from current meters, and raw radar

level II data), they represent properties of

the environment. These data can be

disseminated in both real time and

retrospectively. Examples of original data

include buoy data, survey data (e.g. living

marine resource and hydrographic or

aeromagnetic surveys), biological and

chemical properties, weather observations,

and satellite data (e.g., solar x-ray

imager).

2. Synthesized Products are those that

have been developed through analysis of

original data. This includes analysis

through statistical methods; model

interpolations, extrapolations, and

simulations; and combinations of multiple

sets of original data. While some scientific

evaluation and judgment is needed, the

methods of analysis are well documented

and relatively routine. Examples of

synthesized products include summaries

of fisheries landings statistics, weather

statistics, model outputs, data display

through geographic information system

techniques, precipitation estimates from

radar data, and satellite-derived maps.

3. Interpreted Products are those that

have been developed through

interpretation of original data and

synthesized products. In many cases, this

information incorporates additional

contextual and/or normative data,

standards, or information that puts

original data and synthesized products

into larger spatial, temporal, or issue

contexts. This information is subject to

scientific interpretation, evaluation, and

judgment. Examples of interpreted

products include journal articles, scientific

papers, technical reports, and production

of, and contributions to, integrated

assessments.

4. Warnings, Forecasts, and Advisories

are time-critical interpretations of original

data and synthesized products, prepared
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 71

under tight time constraints and covering

relatively short, discrete time periods. As

such, these warnings, forecasts, and

advisories represent the best possible

information in given circumstances. They

are subject to scientific interpretation,

evaluation, and judgment. Some products

in this category, such as weather forecasts,

are routinely prepared. Other products,

such as tornado warnings, hazardous

chemical spill trajectories, and solar flare

alerts, are of an urgent nature and are

prepared for unique circumstances.

5. Natural Resource Plans are

information products that are prescribed

by law and/or regulation and have content,

structure, and public review processes

(where applicable) that are based upon

published standards (e.g., statutory or

regulatory guidelines). These plans are a

composite of several types of information

(e.g., scientific, management, stakeholder

input, policy) from a variety of internal

and external sources. Examples of Natural

Resource Plans include fishery, protected

resource, bio-environment, and sanctuary

management plans and regulations, and

natural resource restoration plans.

6. Experimental products are products

that are experimental (in the sense that

their quality has not yet been fully

determined) in nature, or are products that

are based in part on experimental

capabilities or algorithms. Experimental

products fall into two classes, either (1)

disseminated for experimental use,

evaluation, or feedback, or (2) used by

qualified scientists in current situations

where the timely flow of vital information

is crucial to human health, safety, or the

environment or the danger to human

health, safety, or the environment will be

lessened if every tool available is used.

Examples of experimental products

include imagery or data from non-NOAA

sources, algorithms currently being tested

and evaluated, experimental climate

forecasts, and satellite imagery processed

with developmental algorithms for urgent

needs (e.g., wildfire detection).

Major NOAA data streams are typically

housed with NOAA Data Centers or

NOAA Centers of Data.

NOAA Data Centers: NOAA National

Data Centers are major archives that

maintain, process, and distribute

retrospective environmental and

geospatial data. The Centers provide longterm stewardship for most of NOAA’s

environmental and geospatial data and a

broad range of user services. The Centers

serve as Agency Record Centers subject to

National Archives and Records

Administration (NARA) accepted archive

standards. NOAA National Data Centers

may be composed of two or more archive

facilities linked together through a

computerized wide area network. NOAA

Data Centers strive to meet the

requirements of an Open Archival

Information System, including:

• Negotiate for, and accept appropriate

information.

• Obtain sufficient control of the

information provided to ensure LongTerm Preservation.

• Determine, either by itself or in

conjunction with other parties, which

communities should become the

Designated Community and,

therefore, should be able to

understand the information provided.

• Ensure that the information to be

preserved is independently

understandable to the Designated

Community.

• Follow documented policies and

procedures, so that information is

preserved against all reasonable

contingencies, and enables the

information to be disseminated as

authenticated copies of the original,

or as traceable to the original (i.e.,

on-site and off-site storage of data,

regular refreshment and replication of

data media.).

• Make the preserved information

available to the Designated

Community.

NOAA Centers of Data: NOAA Centers

of Data are facilities where extensive

collections of a given environmental

parameter(s) are maintained because of

individual or institutional research or

operational requirements (e.g., the

National Ice Center). The Centers of Data,

which are not held to all the NARA

archive standards, must still adhere to

basic good stewardship practices including

off-site data backup and maintenance of

adequate environmental control and

security for their holdings. Centers of Data

transfer their data holdings to the NOAA

National Data Centers for permanent

archiving when continued storage at the

Center of Data is no longer appropriate.

The National Data Buoy Center, Climate

Research Data Center, Continuously

Operating Reference Stations, and Atlantic

Oceanographic and Meteorological

Laboratory Global Ocean Observing

System Center are examples of NOAA

Centers of Data.

Introduction

As Programs assess the adequacy of

their environmental data and information

systems, it is important to encompass all

the data each Program requires to

accomplish its objectives, as well as any

products generated by the Program.

Business contingency planning is an

integral element of any comprehensive

assessment of data management capability.

Data management practices for Programessential activities need to assess

contingency planning for all sources of

mission-critical data, whether such data is

obtained from NOAA or non-NOAA

sources. Where critical data (or

information systems) are obtained from

non-NOAA sources, the Program Manager

should consider the contingency planning

in place at the organization or agency

providing the data or information service

critical to the essential NOAA mission.

Similarly, the Program Manager must

consider the entire business process for

reconstitution of the function at the

Program level (i.e., if data are archived

off-site, do applications used to access

information in the archive require

extensive periods to configure and reach

operational status? Do personnel at the
72 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Questions for NOAA Program Managers

Please answer all of the questions below, using the accompanying answer sheet, once for

each of the six data and information categories (see background, above) relevant to the

Program. Please save your responses with unique file names. All of the questions below

cover the current and near-future. The questions are organized around four broad themes

of data and information management: observation acquisition and transmission, scientific

data management, archive and access, and contingency planning.

Responses to Five-Year Plan Questions:

F. Plan completed and in place

P. Plan partially completed

N. No plan

Responses to Other Questions:

A. Excellent shape or doing with existing resources

B. Partially accomplished or need incremental additional resources

C. Not accomplished or need substantial increase in resources to accomplish

If the appropriate response is (C), please describe the particular needs not being met in

the comments section below the question. Also please comment on the Programs

accomplishments and special needs at the end of the questionnaire.

Observation Acquisition and

Transmission

Five-Year Plan

1. Does the Program have plan in place

(i.e., NOSA, CORL, PBA) for the next

five years of observational needs

identifying and documenting at least of the

following: observational requirements,

adequate observing systems hardware and

software, bandwidth for transmission of

data?

Maintain and Monitor

2. Are all of the Program’s observations

currently being collected in a manner

sufficient to meet Program needs (i.e., are

there adequate backup systems and

appropriate automated monitoring to

ensure accurate, complete, and secure data

collections, and are appropriate automated

monitoring systems in place to monitor

system drifts, evaluate observational

biases, or detect other changes in system

status)?

Collect and Rescue

3. Have historical observations (e.g.,

digital aging media, non-digital, and

physical samples) relevant to the Program

been identified and/or inventoried and

rescued?

Scientific Data Management

Five-Year Plan

4. Does the Program have a plan in

place (i.e. NOSA, CORL, PBA) for the

next five years of observation

management needs identifying and

documenting at least the following:

automated methods of monitoring

observing systems and automated methods

for processing data, including calibration

and validation of data quality and

recording processing in appropriate

metadata, and resources for transmitting

data to a Data Center or Center of Data?

Calibrate and Validate

5. Are Program observations calibrated

and validated and the related products

reviewed for quality using accepted

research or statistical methods?

Appropriate Formats

6. The broad range of environmental

data requires the use of different native

formats. Data formats, standards, and

protocols must be of sufficient diversity

and quality to guarantee interoperability—

supporting integration across disciplines,

organizations, scales, and geographic

locations. Are Program data and products

currently available in formats that can be

easily integrated, supporting

interoperability?

Complete Metadata

7. Is there current, complete, and

authoritative metadata, in appropriate

formats, describing Program data and

products—including information on the

collection, calibration, quality, and

processing—such that the data and

products are independently

understandable by users?

archive site have access to the necessary

systems?).

Materials Provided

To assist in the data management

assessment, a questionnaire, answer sheet,

data worksheet, and Program Worksheet

are provided. The questions in the

questionnaire must be answered once for

each of the six data and product categories

applicable to the Program (defined above:

Original Data, Synthesized Products,

Interpreted Products, Warnings/Forecasts/

Advisories, Natural Resource Plans, and

Experimental Products). Programs may

fill in either the Answer document, the

Data Worksheet (Excel), or both for each

of the applicable of the six categories.

Each Program must also provide at least

one completed Program Worksheet

(Excel). Please return the completed

Program Worksheet and any Answer

sheets or Data Worksheets to your Writing

Team contact. Members of the Writing

Team are available to work with you at

any and all phases of preparing the

Program response.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 73

Archive and Access

Five-Year Plan

8. Does the Program have a plan in

place (i.e. NOSA, CORL, PBA) for the

next five years of observational archive

and dissemination needs identifying and

documenting at least the following:

adequate bandwidth for transmission of

data and products to Data Center or

Center of Data; automated methods of

monitoring and verifying transmission;

and, adequate resources for archive and

dissemination through a Data Center or

Center of Data?

Long-term Preservation

9. Are all observations, calibrated and

validated data, related products, and

metadata preserved for long-term use (i.e.

routinely sent—in appropriate formats —

to a NOAA Data Center or Center of Data;

secure on- and off-site archives exist for

the observations, related products, and

metadata; the archive is regularly

exercised, the media refreshed, and data

formats kept current)?

Data Discovery

10. Are Program archives and metadata

described in appropriate online catalogs or

clearing houses and at the appropriate

granularity to improve discovery of data

and products?

Access/Disseminate

11. Are the observations and related

products available online based on open,

standard technology to enable data

integration?

Contingency Planning

12. What is the status of contingency

planning for access to the observations,

related products, and archives?

Where Programs either execute or are

on the critical path for national or NOAA

essential functions, consider:

• Is the reporting Program identified

as an essential function in Line/Staff

Office or NOAA contingency and

continuity plans?

• Are systems critical to the reporting

Program identified as NOAA IT

Security Systems? (Note: Program

Managers should refer to contingency

planning sections of Certification and

Accreditation documentation for

NOAA IT Security Systems.)

• Has a Minimum Acceptable Down

Time been defined for the products/

services provided by the Program?

(This may require coordination with

supported activities.)

• Are alternate communication

infrastructures (e.g., high frequency

radio) in place and exercised

allowing transmission of missioncritical products/serves for conditions

where the primary method of

transmission is non-operational? Are

vital products/services accessible

from predefined alternate operating

sites?

• For a response of (A—”green”), the

contingency plan must have been

exercised in the last 6 months.

If products/services critical to the Program

are supplied by program-external sources

(NOAA or non-NOAA) also consider:

• Does the agreement defining their

relationship (e.g., memorandum of

understanding) identify emergency

contact information and alternate

sources?

• Are the sources providing the inputs

critical to reporting programs

identified as national or NOAA

essential functions in their

contingency/continuity plans?

10-Year Objectives

(Respond once per Program)

Set forth modernization and

improvement objectives for the next 10

years, including changes to improve

interoperability of data and products,

facility requirements, and critical new

technological components that would be

necessary to meet the objectives.

(Mandatory.)

Additional Comments

(Free-form reply)

What are the Program’s greatest

successes and areas of greatest need for

data and data management? What, if any,

are the greatest vulnerabilities for data

acquisition? What, if any, are the greatest

vulnerabilities for data archival? What if

any, are the greatest challenges for data

access? What, if any, are the greatest

obstacles for integration with other data

sources? Consider unstable or unreliable

data sources, lack of secure and accessible

archive, incompatible formats, incomplete

metadata, etc., when replying.
74 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

Appendix C. References

Department of Homeland Security, 2005:

National Plan to Achieve Maritime

Domain Awareness. The National Strategy

for Maritime Security, October 2005.

Dutton, John A., 2002: Opportunities and

priorities in a new era for weather and

climate services. Bulletin of the American

Meteorological Society, vol. 83, no. 9, p.

1303–1311.

Executive Office of the President, Office of

Management and Budget, 2005: Enabling

Citizen-Centered Electronic Government:

2005–2006 Federal Enterprise

Architecture Action Plan. Office of EGovernment and Information Technology,

March 2005.

FEMA, 2004: Federal Executive Branch

Continuity of Operations (COOP). U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, Federal

Emergency Management System, Federal

Preparedness Circular 65, June 2004.

IWGEO, 2005: Strategic Plan for the U.S.

Integrated Earth Observation System.

NSTC Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources, Interagency Working

Group on Earth Observations, April 2005.

NOAA, 2001: The Nation’s Environmental

Data: Treasures at Risk; Report to

Congress on the Status and Challenges for

NOAA’s Environmental Data Systems. U.S.

Department of Commerce, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

August 2001.

NOAA, 2002: National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration Information

Quality Guidelines. U.S. Department of

Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, September

2002.

NOAA, 2003: NOAA Environmental Data:

Foundations for Earth Observations and

Data Management System. U.S.

Department of Commerce, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

July 2003.

NOAA, 2004: New Priorities for the 21st

Century—NOAA’s Strategic Plan, Updated

for FY2005–FY2010. U.S. Department of

Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, September

2004.

NOAA, 2004: NOAA 2007 Annual

Guidance Memorandum. U.S. Department

of Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, September

2004.

NOAA, 2004: Strategic Direction for

NOAA’s Integrated Global Environmental

Observation and Data Management

System. U.S. Department of Commerce,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, July 2004.

NOAA, 2005: Economic Statistics for

NOAA. U.S. Department of Commerce,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, Fourth Edition, May 2005.

NOAA, 2005: FY 2006 Budget Summary.

U.S. Department of Commerce, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

February 2005.

NOAA, 2005: FY 2007 Program Baseline

Assessment—Surveys. U.S. Department of

Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration. (CasaNOSA

Project Management System.)

NOAA, 2005: Research in NOAA: Toward

Understanding and Predicting Earth’s

Environment; A Five Year Plan: Fiscal

Years 2005–2009. U.S. Department of

Commerce, National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, January

2005.

NOAA, 2005: Understanding Global

Ecosystems to Support Informed DecisionMaking; A 20-Year Research Vision. U.S.

Department of Commerce, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

January 2005.

Ocean.US, 2004: First Annual Integrated

Ocean Observing System (IOOS)

Development Plan; A Report of the

National Ocean Research Leadership

Council. Ocean.US Report No. 9, January

2005.

Ross, Tom, and Neal Lott, 2006: Billion

Dollar U.S. Weather Disasters, 1980–

2005. U.S. Department of Commerce,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, January 2006.

U.S. Department of Transportation, 2000:

2000 Pocket Guide to Transportation.

WMO, 2003: The Second Report on the

Adequacy of the Global Observing

Systems for Climate in Support of the

United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change. Global Climate

Observing System (GCOS)-82, World

Meteological Organization TD No. 1143.
An Assessment of NOAA’s Environmental Data and Information Management 75

AIS

Automated Identification System

AOC

Aircraft Operations Center

AWIPS

Advanced Weather Interactive

Processing System

CDMP

Climate Database Modernization

Program

CLASS

Comprehensive Large Array-data

Stewardship System

COOP

Continuity of Operations Plan

CORL

Coordinated Observation

Requirements List

DHS

Department of Homeland Security

DMAC

Data Management and

Communications

DMC

Data Management Committee

DMIT

Data Management Integration Team

DMSP

Defense Meteorological Satellite

Program

DVB-S

Digital Video Broadcast-Satellite

ENC

Electronic Navigational Chart

EOS

Earth Observing System

Appendix D. Acronyms

FEA

Federal Enterprise Architecture

FEMA

Federal Emergency Management

Agency

FGDC

Federal Geographic Data Committee

FY

Fiscal Year

GCOS

Global Climate Observing System

GEO

Group on Earth Observations

GEOSS

Gobal Earth Observing System of

Systems

GIS

Geographic Information Systems

GOES

Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellite

GOOS

Global Ocean Observing System

HADS

Hydro-meteorological Automated Data

System

HSOC

Homeland Security Operations Center

HSPO

Homeland Security Program Office

IHO

International Hydrographic

Organization

IOC

Intergovernmental Oceanographic

Commission

IEOS

Integrated Earth Observation System

IMAAC

Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric

Assessment Center

IOOS

Integrated Ocean Observing System

ISOS

Integrated Surface Observing System

IT

Information Technology

IUOS

Integrated Upper-Air Observing

System

IWGEO

Interagency Working Group on Earth

Observations

LIDAR

Light Detection and Ranging

MADIS

Meteorological Assimilation Data

Ingest System

MDA

Maritime Domain Awareness

METOP

Meteorological Operational Weather

Satellite

NARA

National Archives and Records

Administration

NCDC

National Climatic Data Center

NCDDC

National Coastal Data Development

Center

NCEP

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction
76 NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

NDBC

National Data Buoy Center

NDE

NPOESS Data Exploitation

NDFD

National Digital Forecast Database

NEXRAD

Next Generation Weather Radar

NGDC

National Geophysical Data Center

NNDC

NOAA National Data Centers

NOAA

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

NODC

National Oceanographic Data Center

NOMADS

NOAA Operational Model Archive and

Distribution System

NOSA

NOAA Observing System Architecture

NOSC

NOAA Observing System Council

NPOESS

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

NPP

NPOESS Preparatory Project

NRT

Navigation Response Team

NS&T

National Status and Trends

NSTC

National Science and Technology

Council

NWR

NOAA Weather Radio

NWS

National Weather Service

OCIO

Office of the Chief Information Office

OE

(Office of) Ocean Exploration

OLE

Office for Law Enforcement

PaCOOS

Pacific Coast Ocean Observing

System

PBA

Program Baseline Assessments

POES

Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite

PORTS

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time

System

SBN

Satellite Broadcast Network

SEC

Space Environment Center

TAO

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

TB

Terabytes

TOC

Telecommunications Operations

Center

USCRN

U.S. Climate Reference Network

USDA

U.S. Department of Agriculture

USGEO

U.S. Group on Earth Observations

VDatum

Vertical Datum

VMS

Vessel Monitoring System

VTEC

Valid Time Event Code

WDC

World Data Center

WMO

World Meteorological Organization

WRF

Weather and Research Forecast
Acknowledgments

Agency Sponsor:

NOAA Data Management Committee

Project Manager:

Christopher G. Fox

Project Coordinator:

Susan McLean

Assessment Team:

Krisa Arzayus, Russ Beard, Tim Eichler, David Helms,

Peter Hoar, Philip Kenul, Maureen Kenny, David McGuirk,

David Meiselman, Roger Pierce, Glenn Rutledge, Jim

Thomas

Design:

Joy Ikelman

NOAA Puzzle Graphics:

Mike Walker

NOAA Cartoon:

John Klossner, used with permission

Photographs:

All photographs are used with permission. Most come

from NOAA sources. Any exceptions or special notations

are listed below.

19: Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

25: Andrea Booher, Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA)

30: Craig Steiner

32: Roger Hill, USDA

33: Leif Skoogfors, FEMA

45: (top left) National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

47: Lt. Eric Baum, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

Special thanks to the NOAA Photo Library and NOAA

Office of Ocean Exploration.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Washington, D.C. 20230