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<font face="Courier New, Courier"> As
part of NOAA’s National Oceanographic Data Center's (NODC) mission
to collect, archive, distribute, and preserve marine data, and in support
of the 1998 Executive Order for Coral Reef Protection and the U.S. Coral
Reef Task Force National Action Plan, the NODC is developing a Coral Reef
Data and Information Management System that will integrate biological
data from coral reef and related ecosystem monitoring and research
programs with interrelated chemical, biological, and physical data of
surrounding marine areas, including seagrass beds and mangrove forests.
These data will include, inter alia, quantitative and descriptive biology
of coral reef communities and associated communities, including
measurements of species occurrences, numbers, life stages, pathology,
productivity, and nonbiological measurements, e.g., sea water chemistry,
turbidity, temperature, salinity, currents, biooptical data, and
substratum features. Additionally, data from in situ measurements,
laboratory studies, remotesensed data, and digital videotapes and
photographs will also be archived and made available through the
website.<br>
<br>
The system is being designed to provide a central "hub"
providing direct and immediate access to worldwide coral reef system and
associated seagrass and mangrove habitat data. As the system develops,
users will be able to download NODC archived biological data in
conjunction with data from NODC's large holdings of oceanographic
datasets. A co-located relational database for monitoring data is planned
for the near future.<br>
<br>
This newly opened website is accessible through the NODC homepage at
<a href="http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/" eudora="autourl">http://www.nodc.noaa.gov</a>.
Downloadable NODC-held data received in 1999 are currently accessible and
being added to in the "Data Sources" section, along with links
to other organizations with reef data holdings. This section also
includes the "List of Extant Stony Corals" (Cairns, et al,
1999), a glossary of reef terminology, and the developing
"Seagrasses and Mangroves" section. Reef location maps include
a clickable overview map of a U.S. coral reef region and accompanying
closeup views with lists of geographical coordinates of the coral
reefs.<br>
<br>
The NODC encourages scientists and managers globally to submit a copy of
their valuable coral reef, associated seagrass, and mangrove forest data,
with associated metadata, to the NODC for permanent archival and
distribution. Data submission procedures may be obtained from the NODC
homepage, or alternatively, please contact the NODC Coral Reef Team Lead,
Dr. Anthony Picciolo (Phone: 3017133280 x140; Email:
Anthony.Picciolo@noaa.gov) or other team members through the website for
more information. U.S. researchers should review their parent and funding
agency requirements on submitting data to the NOAA National Data Centers.
We also encourage scientists and managers not obligated under Federal
data submission requirements and guidelines, or that lack funding and/or
facilities to permanently manage and store coral reef, seagrass bed, and
mangrove forest data, to contribute a copy of these data to NODC for
permanent archival and curatorship.<br>
<br>
The NODC encourages commentary and feedback on this developing
site.</font><br>
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