Welcome to the Marine Data Literacy website, an annotated collection of exercises and resource links, presenting technical methods for handling "marine" data (in the broadest sense).  All software and databases used here are entirely free.  All programs used here are Windows-compatible, using the XP or W7 operating systems (possibly Vista, but this is not guaranteed).  MDL is about the nuts-and-bolts of marine data; it is not a general oceanography textbook.  The organization of the material is obvious below, so there's no need for any lengthy explanation.  This is a volunteer non-commercial effort, always needing help in the form of additional useful exercises.  Exercise groups 1-8 are aimed toward top-level synthesis of data products in GIS applications (sometimes through the intermediary program Ocean Data View).  Group 9 is aimed toward synthesis of operational data products in Integrated Data Viewer (IDV). 

At present there are approximately 80 named exercises, containing 1500 illustrations, in MDL.

WHAT'S NEW! Visualizing Satellite-Measured Surface Temperature Fields in IDV: GHRSST, G1SST (revision), Cutting a Shape to the Project Map Extent in Saga (re-write)

1. Basic PC Handling - Things you really should already know, but they're here to remind you

2. Marine GIS Operations & Tools - Making maps of earth features and marine data analyses

3. Handling World Ocean Database/Atlas Products - Obtaining data and analysis products from the world's largest marine archive

4. Managing & Analyzing Marine Data in Ocean Data View - The most popular ocean data management software is introduced and its basic methods demonstrated

5. Gridding Marine Data & Handling Grid Products - Gridding marine data from various sources, managing grids and creating "standard products" for marine GIS

6. Plotting Motion Vectors - Drawing wind and current vector "arrows" on maps

7. Handling Marine & Coastal Relief Data (Bathymetry & Topography - Managing and plotting bathymetric and topographic data (grids or vectors)

8. Handling HDF & NetCDF Marine Data - Methods to obtain and visualize remote sensing imagery from archive and operational resources using these formats

9. Handling Operational & Synoptic Marine Data - Methods to obtain and visualize operational marine data, mainly using the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) software; many of the "heroic efforts" required by some of the above methods are made quite simple with IDV, but the graphics output from IDV is not yet of the same caliber as most GIS systems.

Training Courses - Information about where these exercises are being used.  Essential Global Data - Primary layers for Atlas methods education.  Formats - Checklist of all formats used here, with brief notes.  Software - Selected software, necessary for all of the above exercises.  Sketch Maps - Easy-to-use sketch maps of Africa, South America or the globe, for use in classroom discussions.  Atlases - Data product collections with extensive graphics for comparison with your own exercise results.  Template - Downloadable form used in the exercises, provided to tempt prospective authors.  Contact - About the author.  Classroom Requirements - What's required for local courses not held at the OTA center in Ostend, Belgium.