The Real-Time Environmental Information Network and Analysis System (REINAS) is a distributed database environment supporting both real-time and retrospective regional scale environmental science. Continuous real-time data is acquired from dispersed sensors and input to a logically integrated but physically distributed database. An integrated problem-solving environment supports visualization and modeling by users requiring insight into historical, current, and predicted oceanographic and meteorological conditions. REINAS supports both collaborative and single-user scientific work in a distributed environment. The goals and design of key data management aspects of REINAS are described.