World Data Center

{{Short description|Archive of IGY observational data sets}}

{{Infobox organization

|name = World Data Centre

|image =

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|caption = WDC

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|abbreviation = WDC

|motto =

|formation = 1957

|dissolved = 2008

|type = INGO

|status =

|purpose = geophysical data archive

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|region_served = Worldwide

|membership =

|language = English, French

|leader_title = President

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|main_organ =

|parent_organization = International Council for Science (ICSU)

|successor = World Data System (WDS)

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The World Data Centre (WDC) system was created to archive and distribute data collected from the observational programmes of the 1957–1958 International Geophysical Year by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).Korsmo, F. L. (2010) [https://datascience.codata.org/articles/284/files/submission/proof/284-1-551-1-10-20150416.pdf The Origins and Principles of the World Data Center system] CODATA Data Science Journal, Volume 8Dieminger, Walter; Hartmann, Gerd K. & Leitinger, Reinhart (1996) [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-78717-1_28 The World Data Center System, International Data Exchange, and New ICSU Programs] The Upper Atmosphere Springer-Verlag pp 921–941 The WDCs were funded and maintained by their host countries on behalf of the international science community.

Originally established in the United States (WDC A),[https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/26118/chapter/17#785 World Data Center A] Report on the U.S. Program for the International Geophysical Year (1965) IGY General Report #21 section XVII

National Academies Press https://doi.org/10.17226/26118 pp785–812 Soviet Union (WDC B),Lyubovtseva, Y. S., Gvishiani, A. D., Soloviev, A. A., Samokhina, O. O., and Krasnoperov, R. I. (2020) [https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/11/157/2020/ Sixtieth anniversary of the International Geophysical Year (1957–2017) – contribution of the Soviet Union] History of Geo- and Space Sciences, 11, p157–171 Europe and Japan (WDC C), the WDC system expanded to other countries and to new scientific disciplines.Aronova, Elena (2017) Geophysical Datascapes of the Cold War: Politics and Practices of the World Data Centers in the 1950s and 1960s Osiris Volume 32, Number 1 The WDC system included up to 52 Centres in 15 countries, with some data centres replicating another.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100707034131/http://www.icsu.org/Gestion/img/ICSU_DOC_DOWNLOAD/2123_DD_FILE_SCID_Report.pdf Strategic Committee on Information and Data] ICSU 2008 p27–30[https://web.archive.org/web/20041229015043/http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wdc/list.shtml WDC List] NOAA All data held in WDCs were available for the cost of copying and sending the requested information. In 1968 the ICSU Panel on World Data Centers (Geophysical, Solar, and Environmental) was established to coordinate activities and to establish operating criteria for the WDCs.ICSU (1987) Guide to the World Data Center System, Part 1, The World Data Centers

At the end of 2008, following the ICSU General Assembly in Maputo (Mozambique), the World Data Centres were reformed and a new ISC World Data System (WDS) established in 2009. Expanding on the 50-year heritage of the ICSU World Data Centre system (WDC) and the ICSU Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical data-analysis Services,[https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/25116/chapter/5#103 Open Science by Design: Realizing a Vision for 21st Century Research] National Academies Press {{ISBN|9780309476249}} 2018 p103 most of the legacy data centers and services continued under the WDS.

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |+List of World Data Centres and Services
scope=col | Centre or Service ! scope=col | Acronym ! scope=col | Parent ! scope=col | Host ! scope=col | Nation ! scope=col | Year ! scope=col class=unsortable | Notes
International Gravimetric Bureau |BGI |IAG, CNES |Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées |France |1951 |{{URL|https://bgi.obs-mip.fr/}}
International Space Environment Service |ISES |Natural Resources Canada |Geomagnetic Laboratory |Canada |1956 |{{URL|http://www.spaceweather.org/ISES/intro/intro.html|www.spaceweather.org}}
International Service of Geomagnetic Indices |ISGI |IUGG |Observatory for Earth Sciences (EOST) |France |1956 |
rowspan="4" |Solar-Terrestrial Physics !rowspan="4" |STP |Russian Academy of Sciences |Geophysical Center |Russia |1956 |
NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1957 |[https://books.google.com/books?id=nsryAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR4 WDC A Report Upper Atmosphere Geophysics] NOAA 1971 p iv NBS 1957–1964, NGDC 1965–2015, NCEI
NERC |Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |UK | |
Bureau of Meteorology |IPS Radio and Space Services |Australia |2000 |{{URL|https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/World_Data_Centre}}
Airglow | |Ministry of Education |National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |Japan |1957 |{{URL|https://solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp/en/wdc/wdc.html|solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp}}
rowspan="2" |Cosmic Rays !rowspan="2" |CR |Nagoya University |Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory |Japan |1957 |{{URL|https://cidas.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp/WDCCR/readme.html|cidas.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp}}
NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1957 |University of Minnesota 1957–1966, Aeronomy and Space Data Center 1966–1972
rowspan="5" |Geomagnetism !rowspan="5" | |Kyoto University |Geophysical Institute |Japan |1957 |[https://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/wdc/whatis.html What is 'World Data Center'?] Kyoto University INTERMAGNET
NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1957 |[https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/services/world-data-system World Data System] NOAA C&GS 1957–1964, NGDC 1965–2015
NERC |British Geological Survey |UK |1966 |{{URL|http://www.wdc.bgs.ac.uk/}}
DTU Space |Danish Meteorological Institute |Denmark |1957 |{{URL|https://www.space.dtu.dk/english/research/scientific_data_and_models/world_data_center_for_geomagnetism|www.space.dtu.dk}}
|Indian Institute of Geomagnetism |India |1971 |
rowspan="3" |Glaciology !rowspan="3" | |NOAA |National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) |USA |1957 |Barry, Roger G. and Gan, Thian Yew (2022) [https://books.google.com/books?id=IARsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 The Global Cryosphere] p5, 103 AGS 1957–1969, USGS 1970–1976
University of Cambridge |Scott Polar Research Institute |UK |1957 |{{URL|https://www.wdcgc.spri.cam.ac.uk/}}
Chinese Academy of Sciences |Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CARD) |China |1988 |
Ionosphere | | |National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) |Japan |1957 |{{URL|https://wdc.nict.go.jp/wdc-top/index.html|wdc.nict.go.jp}}
rowspan="3" |Meteorology !rowspan="3" |MET |NOAA |National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) |USA |1957 |[https://community.wmo.int/en/meetings/world-data-centres World Data Centres] WMO National Weather Records Center (NWRC) 1957–1967, NCDC 1967–2015, NCEI
Chinese Academy of Sciences |National Meteorological Information Center |China |1988 |
|All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information |Russia | |
rowspan="2" |Oceanography !rowspan="2" | |NOAA |National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) |USA |1957 |Moffat, Ronald (1998) [https://books.google.com/books?id=oWiYmhym85sC&pg=PA7 WDC A Oceanography Catalogue of Data] WDCA-OC-98-1 p1, 7, 26 Texas A&M 1957–1961, NODC 1961–2015, NCEI
State Oceanic Administration |National Marine Data and Information Service |China |1988 |
Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level |PSMSL | |National Oceanography Centre (NOC) |UK |1957 |formerly Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Liverpool
Rockets and Satellites | |NASA |NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) |USA |1957 |[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/about_wdc-a.html About the World Data Center for Satellite Information] NASA US National Academy of Sciences 1957–1968
Nuclear Radiation | |Japan Meteorological Agency |Meteorological Research Institute |Japan |1957 |
rowspan="2" |Aurora !rowspan="2" | |NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1957 |Cornell University 1957–1967
|National Institute of Polar Research |Japan |1981 |{{URL|https://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~aurora/datacatalog/datacatalog.html|polaris.nipr.ac.jp}}
International Center for Earth Tides |ICET |University of French Polynesia |Tahiti Geodetic Observatory |France |1966 |{{URL|http://igets.u-strasbg.fr/}}
Soils | |IUSS |International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) |The Netherlands |1966 |
Solar Radio Emissions | |National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |Nobeyama Solar Radio Observatory |Japan |1969 |
Tsunamis | |NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1969 |{{URL|https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsu.shtml|ngdc.noaa.gov}}
rowspan="2" |Space Science !rowspan="2" | |JAXA |Institute of Space and Astronautical Science |Japan |1969 |
Chinese Academy of Sciences |National Space Science Center |China |1988 |{{URL|http://www.cssdc.ac.cn/}}
rowspan="2" |Solid Earth Geophysics !rowspan="2" |SEG |NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1971 |[https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ9AAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR2 Directory of US Data Repositories Supporting the International Geodynamics Project] NOAA 1978 pii NGDC 1971–2015, NCEI
Chinese Academy of Sciences |Institute of Geology and Geophysics |China |1988 |
rowspan="2" |Astronomy !rowspan="2" | |IAU, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) |France |1972 |{{URL|https://cds.unistra.fr/}}
Chinese Academy of Sciences |Beijing Astronomical Observatory |China |1988 |
Rotation of the Earth | | |United States Naval Observatory (USNO) |USA |1972 |
Climate | |University of Hamburg |Max Planck Institute for Meteorology |Germany |1975 |{{URL|https://www.wdc-climate.de/ui/|www.wdc-climate.de}}
Marine Geology and Geophysics | |NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1975 |NOAA (1990) [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQuLd397nIoC&pg=PA77 The National Geophysical Data Center] p77, 91 NGDC 1975–2015, NCEI
Solar Activity | | |Observatoire de Meudon |France |1978 |
Atmospheric Trace Gases | |Department of Energy |Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) |USA |1982 |{{URL|https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/|ess-dive.lbl.gov}}
Sunspot Index & Solar Influences |SILSO, SIDC |IAU |Royal Observatory of Belgium |Belgium |1985 |{{URL|https://www.sidc.be/SILSO/home|www.sidc.be}}
World Glacier Monitoring Service |WGMS |IUGG |University of Zurich |Switzerland |1986 |
Seismology | |USGS |National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) |USA |1986 |
International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service |IERS | |United States Naval Observatory (USNO) |USA |1988 |{{URL|https://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Home/home_node.html|www.iers.org}}
Paleoclimatology | |NOAA |National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) |USA |1989 |NGDC 1989–2015, NCEI
International GNSS Service |IGS |IUGG |NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |USA |1994 |{{URL|https://igs.org/}}
Human Interactions in the Environment | |Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) |NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) |USA |1995 |
International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry |IVS |IUGG |NASA Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) |USA |2001 |{{URL|https://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html|ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}
Biodiversity and Ecology | |USGS |Center for Biological Informatics |USA |2001 |
Marine Environmental Sciences |MARE |Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research |Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) |Germany |2001 |{{URL|https://www.marum.de/en/PANGAEA-Data-Publisher-for-Earth-and-Environmental-Science-2.html|www.marum.de}}
Land Cover Data & Remotely Sensed Land Data | |USGS |Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) |USA |2002 |
Recent Crustal Movements | |Institute of Geophysics |Geodetic Observatory Pecný |Czech Republic |2002–2006 |
Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere |RSAT |DLR |German Remote Sensing Data Centre (DFD) |Germany |2003 |{{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20150429000910/http://wdc.dlr.de/about/|wdc.dlr.de}}