It is widely used to help the decision-making process. Prior to 1996, such reports were mostly in tabular form, line plots and 2-D contour graphics. Two types of data collection and processing illustrate the applications. Water quality parameters at a particular station are captured by an instrument that records temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, clarity, transmissivity, pH and barometry, etc., from surface to sea floor. The instrument makes 24 scans per second and internally averages them to one reading per meter of depth, profiling an entire column of water.
Bathymetry indicates depths of the ocean and related factors at the stations under study.
The options for presenting 2-D sample data include pie charts to represent the size of different fish communities, bubble charts to show different ranges of coliform bacteria and their locations, bar charts to indicate concentrations of pathogens in fish liver tissue at different locations within a grid, and maps to identify levels and locations of bacterial concentrations along the shoreline. Shang uses MGE Terrain Analyst to translate latitude, longitude and depth from each sampling station into a 3-D grid map of the ocean floor. Queries and analysis are then used to present the data in the most understandable displays. Vereker said the range of displays for data interpretation are extensive. We can look at all of the stations at the same time and make a picture of all the data, rather than just data at one point at a time.