The complexity of the coastal regime and the need to predict natural and human environmental impacts and their consequences underscore the critical importance of our understanding of coastal processes. The higher resolution measurements of the dynamic coastal environment generate numerous data types of a magnitude requiring a rigorous and efficient storage capability satisfied only by a state-of-the-art data center.

In response to this challenge, Congress provided funding to establish the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. The NCDDC will be one of NOAA's data centers and provide for the archive of and access to the long-term coastal data record. It will organizationally be under the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). NCDDC will work closely with many of the other Federal/state/local agencies, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and the private sector to create a unified, long-term database of coastal data sets. Initially, the NCDDC will focus on improving the quality and access to physical and geophysical data sets, such as water levels, bathymetry, winds, waves, and SST. Over time chemical (i.e., nutrients) and biological (i.e., harmful algal blooms), as well as many other data types will also be addressed. NCDDC will use established and emerging technologies to access and integrate data stored in geographically distributed repositories in heterogeneous formats.

Interoperability has been a desired objective of agencies involved with environmental and other data management functions and responsibilities. Architectural designs and considerations to enhance and achieve interoperability have evolved and progressed commensurate with the evolution of technology. Government, Industry and Academia have recognized that a multiple tiered architecture, with a data broker middleware as the central tier, is the solution to interoperability. Current technology, specifically object oriented programming techniques and languages, support the design and implementation of the desired multiple tiered, broker architecture for a prototype design and implementation of advanced data management techniques for NCDDC.

This paper provides an update on the NCDDC development its technologies and the pilot projects it is conducting. A Coastal Risk Atlas, and support to Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System (HABSOS), Coast Watch Hypoxia warning capability, and a Coral Reef Information System (CORIS) will continue into FY2002. Certification as a FGDC node will be achieved in early FY2002.