EPIC provides a set of tools to access and display data in real time. EPIC was developed at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory to manage, analyze, and display the large numbers of hydrographic and time series oceanographic "in situ" data sets collected as part of the NOAA climate data study programs. Utilities for creating Web pages include AnyURL, which uses forms to point to static URLs with HTML and cover, which can be used for dynamic generation of graphics of listings on the Web by running existing EPIC utilities from a Web page.
Java provides a flexible and platform independent environment for data access, delivery, and graphics. EPIC uses Java to both enhance existing Web applications (using cgi-bin scripts and EPIC applications) and provide real-time access to meteorological measurements from the equatorial Pacific.