Giving Compass' Take:

• News Deeply talks with Carolyn Savoldelli, a research analyst at the World Resources Institute, about her efforts to connect the vast amount of open ocean data to scientists and policymakers in order to help them make informed decisions.

• Why is it important for leaders, researchers and reporters to have access to accurate, real-time data? What does this information reveal about the health of the ocean?

• Here's how you can get involved with protecting the ocean.

If those working to protect the world’s ecosystems are to make informed decisions, they need trustworthy and accessible data.

It was with this in mind that earlier this year, the World Resources Institute (WRI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, launched Resource Watch, a collection of open-source data sets and visualizations covering a range of environmental and social issues, including ocean topics such as coral bleaching and commercial shipping.

Carolyn Savoldelli, a research analyst at WRI, hopes easier access to data will help better inform governments, researchers and advocates and that journalists could use the near real-time information – such as on oil and chemical spill incidents or Arctic sea ice extent – in their reporting.

Oceans Deeply: How would you describe the state of ocean data as it exists right now?

Savoldelli: We’re seeing this boom in climate change-related ocean data. There’s some really incredible stuff happening at NOAA and NASA and these institutions that have really fine-tuned satellite imagery for oceans issues, whether that’s water quality or salinity or sea surface temperature. However, because it is this vast resource that is extremely complicated and difficult to measure, there are still huge gaps in our understanding.

Read the full article about opening up ocean data by Lindsay Abrams at News Deeply.