Now that all the data are entered it is time to use it to discover how the estuary works. The first
thing we need to do is get the interesting data from the database. To do so, click on the "Retrieve
data" button. The data retrieval form gives you lots of options for getting the data. Depending on
what you want to do with the data you can retrieve data based on who collected it, the site from
which it was collected, or the date. You can also choose which parameters you want to include.
Once you have filled out the form, press the "Submit Query" button at the bottom of the page. The
computer should display all of the data that you requested. You should now be able to use the
data to answer questions or test a hypothesis.
Sometimes it is easier to look at the data using another program, such as Excel. To do so, you need to copy the data from the web browser to Excel or another program. There are two ways to do this.
First, you can simply drag the mouse over the data while pressing the left mouse button or use the "Edit" menu to "Select All". These procedures will highlight the data on that page. Next, use the "Edit" menu to "Copy" the highlighted data to the Windows Clipboard. Once Excel is open, you can use the "Edit" menu to "Paste" the data into the spreadsheet.
Alternatively, you can save the data as a text file by pressing the "View Delimited Text" link at the top of the page. This link opens another browser window that displays the data in a very basic format. You can use the "File" menu to "Save" the information to a file. Once the data are saved as text, they can be imported to any other program for graphing and analysis.