Structure and Flow of Data Through an Environmental Data Management System

Download or read book Structure and Flow of Data Through an Environmental Data Management System written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Efficient data management is crucial to environmental investigations. The management system must provide for organized data tracking, storage, and retrieval of data essential to successful environmental management. Ultimately, the system is used as an environmental management tool for remediation decisionmaking. This paper will describe the structure and flow of data in the data management system used by the Environmental Restoration Division of the Environmental Protection Department of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The structure is based on three relational databases that are closely correlated. The first database handles sample tracking. The second database handles nondiscrete data, such as sample location, media, analytical results, and some geological information. These two databases are maintained on a VAX 63 10 with VMS, using INGRES relational database software. The third database handles nondiscrete data like graphic imaging flies and geophysical logs and will be run on an IPC Sparc, using INGRES. The flow of data, both hard copy and electronic, follows a model that tracks information from sampling plan through decisionmaking (Fig. 1). The steps in the process include chain-of-custody (CoC) tracking of the sample, receipt of analytical results, application of quality control procedures. and electronic use of data in decision support tools, such as graphic imaging, model development and verification, or statistical analysis.