NODC's 50th Anniversary

NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center Celebrates 50 Years of Service to the Ocean Community

NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) opened its doors on November 1, 1960, with 29 employees ready to take on the challenge of compiling, sorting, and organizing the disparate collections of oceanographic data into a single system. This was a daunting task, considering that the U.S. Navy had already determined that data were coming in at such a rate that it was nearly impossible to keep up. The work soon began with a collection of unclassified data that consisted of approximately 2,000,000 machine-punched cards containing about 100,000 stations of oceanographic data. This data consisted of about 3 million observations of temperatures, waves, currents, and depths. In comparison to today's data collections, NODC's archive currently contains over 44 terabytes of data packaged into more than 86,000 archived original datasets and hundreds of different ocean data types.

In January of 1961, NODC was formally dedicated by the Honorable James H. Wakelin, Jr., the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research and Development. Three hundred guests were present, including members of Congress and representatives of supporting agencies. Dr. Woodrow C. Jacobs was appointed the first NODC Director.

In 1970, NODC was formally transferred from the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office to the newly formed National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), under the Department of Commerce. As the science of oceanography grew and developed over the decades, so did the Data Center. In 2000, the National Coastal Data Development Center was incorporated into NODC expanding its focus from global oceans to include coastal ocean areas. NODC now maintains the world's largest collection of oceanographic data.

The mission of NODC is to provide scientific stewardship of marine data and information. Archived data includes physical, biological, and chemical measurements derived from in situ oceanographic observations and satellite remote sensing, and is also used as a leading source to monitor global environmental changes, such as global ocean heat content.

Ways in which NODC has impacted the global Oceanographic Community:

• NODC preserves and provides access to scientific quality ocean data and information for current and future generations.
• NODC is recognized globally as an authoritative long term archive for ocean data and information.
• NODC has provided oceanographic researchers around the world a place to preserve valuable ocean data for the benefit of future generations.
• NODC's products are used as a leading source to monitor global ocean climate changes.
• NODC contains the world's largest collection of publicly available oceanographic data.