Climate information systems-a marine perspective

As man expands his utilization of the coastal and deep-sea marine environment, the need for marine climate information increases. It has become increasingly evident that the current national and international data holdings, though extensive in coverage, are not able to fully meet the needs of users who are demanding greater and quicker access to data and shorter delays in observations reaching archives. Climate Information Systems (CIS) are database management and archive systems designed to make weather and marine climate data accessible to a wide range of users. Climate Information Systems may be comprised of several subsystems: Catalogue Systems, Data Acquisition Systems, Databases, Data Visualization Tools and Data Analysis Tools. This paper summarizes some of the needs of, and current work on, climate information systems with applications to the marine environment