ABSTRACT
One of the marks of modern ecology, particularly for phytoplankton in aquatic environments, is the increasing size of data sets. This began with fluorometry data in the early 1970s (Platt, 1972) and satellite data, such as the coastal zone color scanner, in the late 1970s (Feldman et al., 1984). The trend toward large data sets has been continued by programs such as JGOFS, with the HOTS and BATS data sets as specific examples. What distinguishes these programs is the large data sets and the large number of scientists and technicians working on the data. They may contribute in the form of designing hardware, physical or electronic smoothing devices, initial filtering, interpretation or provision in some archival format (e.g., SeaWifs and BATS). This spreads the data inundation and prevents an individual from drowning in data preparation, reduction, analysis, and interpretation.
