November 2006. UK Moored Current Meter Data Set DVD. This DVD contains time series measurements of ocean currents from moored instruments, collected in the shelf seas around the British Isles bounded by the area 48N to 62N, 20W to 10E (i.e., the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and North East Atlantic). Data are presented as ASCII files with accompanying html documentation. For users with a Windows system an interface program, the BODC Mooring Explorer, allows various visual presentations (Data View, Map View, Time Series Plot, Scatter Plot and Documentation View) as well as the means to export the data/images to other applications. Send an email to webmaster@oceannet.org if you would like a DVD.

November 2006. New online UK Wave Data Catalogue. This catalogue holds metadata for 354 wave data sets from around the UK and can be queried via an interactive map. The information provided about each wave data set includes site name, start/end date, contact details, depth (where available), data collector’s name and instrument type. MEDAG would be happy to hear from anyone who would like to have their wave metadata added to the catalogue (please email webmaster@oceannet.org). Visit the catalogue here or follow the links via 'Data Catalogues' on the menu bar at the top.

November 2006. Update on INSPIRE (proposed EC Directive on an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the Community). There have been a number of readings of INSPIRE and concerns raised between the Council, Parliament and Commission over the last 2 years. There is now a formal conciliation process to begin on the 21st November 2006. Following agreement at political level the text will go through a process of linguistic revision and so expected final adoption is in spring 2007. A further update on INSPIRE will be featured in the next issue of the MDIP Newsletter.

October 2006. JNCC have produced maps of marine seabed landscapes and water column features of UK seas (UKSeaMap) available at http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-2117. The seabed and coastal marine landscapes were derived by integrating a number of geophysical attributes including bathymetry, seabed sediments, bedforms, maximum near-bed stress and other data.

June 2006. The Marine Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Database which will hold data for the Clean Seas Environment Monitoring Programme has been launched. Click here for further details.

April 2006. A MEDAG and MDIP forum will be held on the19th June at IMAREST in London. Contact dcott@oceannet.org for further details.

January 2006. GIGateway in combination with the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) are holding 2 meetings on Metadata Portals and Data Providers in January and Febuary. Contact GIgateway for further details at info@gigateway.org.uk

January 2006. The Environment Agency have released a State of the Marine Environment Report. The report highlights recent improvements, such as the reduction of discharges of sewage, hazardous and radioactive materials; as well as remaining areas of concern.