The rivers database and the overall data management for the Land Ocean Interaction Study programme

This paper describes the approach taken for the acquisition, management, dissemination and long term security of the environmental data gathered for the Land Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS). The issues that had to e resolved can be divided into two groups: scientific and managerial. Scientific issues centred on how best to hold such a wide variety of spatially and temporally referenced data so that researchers could study cross component processes with ease. Managerial issues concerned policy and operation.