[1] The NODC also had field offices collocated with major government or academic oceanographic laboratories in Stennis Space Center, MS; Miami, FL; La Jolla, San Diego, California; Seattle, WA; Austin, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; and Honolulu, Hawaii.
The data archives amassed by the NODC and the other centers provide a record of Earth's changing environment, support numerous research and operational applications, and are still available through the NCEI.
Working cooperatively, the centers provided data products and services to scientists, engineers, resource managers, policy makers, and other users—both in the United States and around the world.
Its primary mission is to ensure that global oceanographic data sets collected at great cost are maintained in a permanent archive that is easily accessible to the world science community, and to other users.
NODC holdings included in situ and remotely sensed physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic data from coastal and deep ocean areas.
NODC data holdings extended back over a hundred years, and the volume is expected to grow exponentially as new ocean observing systems are deployed.
Under NODC leadership, the Global Data Archeology and Rescue (GODAR) project grew into a major international program sponsored by the Inter-governmental Oceanographic Commission.
The combined libraries contained millions of volumes including books, journals, CD-ROMs, DVDs, audio, and video tapes.