The MED Network is a partnership between a number of UK Government Departments and Agencies and user groups interested in marine environmental data. It operates in the form of a network distributed between marine data managers, with a focus provided by a MED Co-ordinator and an Action Group. Its primary activities are to develop and maintain data inventories, develop data management guidelines, develop mechanisms to facilitate data exchange and to enhance the visibility of marine environmental data. As well as links to sources of marine data, the OceanNET website includes the following products:

UK Directory of Marine Environmental Data Sets
This Directory (Figure 1) includes descriptions of over 650 data sets collected by ninety UK laboratories and relating to physical, chemical and biological oceanography, marine meteorology, ecology, geology and geophysics, underwater acoustics, and major marine pollution incidents. Data sets are catalogued irrespective of their format (e.g. digital files, analogue records, manuscript data, microfilm, geological and biological samples, etc.) and include collected data dating from the 19th Century through to the present day. The primary geographic area covered comprises the seas and oceans adjacent to Europe (e.g. North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, North Sea, northern sub-polar and polar seas), although wider ranging data sets are also included, particularly global data sets. The directory represents the UK contribution to the European Directory of Marine Environmental Data (EDMED), a collaborative EU project involving over thirty European countries. EDMED is a component of the SeaSearch network, which acts as a focal point for marine data and information in Europe.

Inventory of UK Research Cruises
This contains information on over 6,500 research cruises carried out by UK scientists since the 1960s. Following a research cruise, completed Cruise Summary Reports are added to the database. Cruise track paper charts accompanying the report are electronically scanned and stored in the database. Cruise information includes ship name, organisation name, sea areas visited, cruise objectives and a brief description of all measurements made. The database may be searched on-line by selection from menus, a map of sea areas or by a free-text search. The cruise track images can also be viewed.

UK Inventory of Marine Monitoring Observations
IACMST’s Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Action Group co-ordinates marine observation programmes operated by the UK. On behalf of the GOOS Action Group, the MED Network has produced an inventory which includes information about all measurements that are made on a routine basis under UK funding in the marine waters around the UK and further afield. This inventory is being revised and updated as part of the EU European Directory of the Initial Ocean-Observing System (EDIOS) project.

UK and Int’l Inventories of Moored Current Meter Data
These inventories contain information on over 30,000 current meter data series collected world-wide by UK and other organisations. Current meter deployments are typically of two to eight weeks duration in shelf areas, but up to six to twelve months in the open ocean. The data is described in terms of position, instrument type, start date and duration of data, parameters measured, originating laboratory and a data held/not held flag. In addition to searching on these keys, a map-based search facility (Figure 2) is available.

UK Coastal Data Resource
The accessibility of much of the basic coastal marine data required for sound environmental management decisions, or for research into the nature of the coastal marine environment, is not currently well developed on a UK-wide scale. So a special section of the OceanNET website is dedicated to the coastal zone and provides a comprehensive reference to coastal data collecting initiatives, organisations collecting the data and currently available data directories and catalogues. In parallel with this, a new UK Directory of Coastal Data Sets has been prepared and included in the Resource.

IACMST Information Documents
The following (Figure 3) are available from OceanNET:

• ’Climate of UK Waters at the Millennium - Status and Trends’ describes the present (1999/2000) status and trends in climate, weather, plankton, salinity, sea-level, sea temperature and waves in UK waters. Some representative data sets on chlorophyll and nutrients are also included (In addition, this Document is available to be explored in interactive format)
  
• ’Marine Sample Collections Ð their value, use and future’ reviews the modern and potential use of biological and geological marine sample collections in the UK
  
• ’Review of Current UK Marine Observations - in relation to future needs’ assesses what marine observations are currently being made in the UK; where, when, why and by which organisations, focusing on observations of a longer-term nature