On World Ocean Day (8 June 2010), the Southern African Data Centre for Oceanography (SADCO) will start providing free and open access to its data.

The CSIR's Dr Marten Gründlingh, who manages the data centre, says: "Marine information is key to a better understanding of issues such as climate change, weather and the impact of humans on the sea - including marine effluent, oil spills, shipping, mineral exploration and fishing. With increasing pressures on our marine environment, oceanographic data are essential to governments and other decision-makers."

SADCO stores, retrieves and manipulates multidisciplinary marine information from the areas around southern Africa. Data are mostly collected from research vessels, vessels-of-opportunity, moored instruments or floating buoys. Much of this information is entered into global numerical models, such as those used for weather forecasting, to allow some prediction of climate events and trends, and even tracking of oil spills.

"Oceanographic data are costly," says Gründlingh. "Considering the cost of a research vessel and the number of vertical profiles that can be collected per day, profiles cost about R10 000 each - SADCO has more than 250 000 such profiles and other data available. The centre is fully computerised, with some data sets going back to 1670!"

SADCO, which celebrates 20 years of existence this year, forms part of a global network of ocean data centres. These are all part of the UN's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, which was established 50 years ago.

"Southern Africa has a long coastline, with thousands of kilometres to the nearest continents in an easterly, southerly and westerly direction. It is exposed to the weather generated over the vast Southern Ocean, where the highest waves in the world have been observed. When these ocean conditions reach the coast of South Africa, they impact on our beaches and affect ports and shipping. The Agulhas Current, flowing southwards along the east coast, is the domain of so-called giant waves, created through interaction between storm waves and the Current. Many vessels have been severely damaged and lost because of this phenomenon," notes Gründlingh.

"We believe the realisation of the importance and vulnerability of the sea starts at a young age. By making data and information about the oceans available to the public, and especially to schools, it could engender the sense of scientific investigation," says Gründlingh.

SADCO is funded by a consortium comprising the CSIR, the Department of Environmental Affairs, the SA Navy, the South African Environmental Observation Network of the National Research Foundation and the Namibian Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

Gründlingh believes data management requires a long-term commitment - "Only in this way can we ensure that valuable data will remain viable for generations to come. By using this information responsibly, we can harmonise our existence with the sustainable involvement of the oceans."

SADCO can be accessed at http://sadco.csir.co.za