# World Data Center

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). 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), Soviet Union (WDC B), Europe and Japan (WDC C), the WDC system expanded to other countries and to new scientific disciplines. The WDC system included up to 52 Centres in 15 countries, with some data centres replicating another. 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.
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, most of the legacy data centers and services continued under the WDS.
List of World Data Centres and Services :
| Centre or Service | Acronym | Parent | Host | Nation | Year | Notes |
| International Gravimetric Bureau | BGI | IAG, CNES | Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées | France | 1951 | bgi.obs-mip.fr |
| International Space Environment Service | ISES | Natural Resources Canada | Geomagnetic Laboratory | Canada | 1956 | www.spaceweather.org |
| International Service of Geomagnetic Indices | ISGI | IUGG | Observatory for Earth Sciences (EOST) | France | 1956 | |
| Solar-Terrestrial Physics | STP | Russian Academy of Sciences | Geophysical Center | Russia | 1956 | |
| Solar-Terrestrial Physics | STP | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1957 | NBS 1957–1964, NGDC 1965–2015, NCEI |
| Solar-Terrestrial Physics | STP | NERC | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory | UK | | |
| Solar-Terrestrial Physics | STP | Bureau of Meteorology | IPS Radio and Space Services | Australia | 2000 | www.sws.bom.gov.au/World_Data_Centre |
| Airglow | | Ministry of Education | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | Japan | 1957 | solarwww.mtk.nao.ac.jp |
| Cosmic Rays | CR | Nagoya University | Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory | Japan | 1957 | cidas.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp |
| Cosmic Rays | CR | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1957 | University of Minnesota 1957–1966, Aeronomy and Space Data Center 1966–1972 |
| Geomagnetism | | Kyoto University | Geophysical Institute | Japan | 1957 | INTERMAGNET |
| Geomagnetism | | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1957 | C&GS 1957–1964, NGDC 1965–2015 |
| Geomagnetism | | NERC | British Geological Survey | UK | 1966 | www.wdc.bgs.ac.uk |
| Geomagnetism | | DTU Space | Danish Meteorological Institute | Denmark | 1957 | www.space.dtu.dk |
| Geomagnetism | | | Indian Institute of Geomagnetism | India | 1971 | |
| Glaciology | | NOAA | National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) | USA | 1957 | AGS 1957–1969, USGS 1970–1976 |
| Glaciology | | University of Cambridge | Scott Polar Research Institute | UK | 1957 | www.wdcgc.spri.cam.ac.uk |
| Glaciology | | 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 | wdc.nict.go.jp |
| Meteorology | MET | NOAA | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) | USA | 1957 | National Weather Records Center (NWRC) 1957–1967, NCDC 1967–2015, NCEI |
| Meteorology | MET | Chinese Academy of Sciences | National Meteorological Information Center | China | 1988 | |
| Meteorology | MET | | All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information | Russia | | |
| Oceanography | | NOAA | National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) | USA | 1957 | Texas A&M 1957–1961, NODC 1961–2015, NCEI |
| Oceanography | | 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 | US National Academy of Sciences 1957–1968 |
| Nuclear Radiation | | Japan Meteorological Agency | Meteorological Research Institute | Japan | 1957 | |
| Aurora | | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1957 | Cornell University 1957–1967 |
| Aurora | | | National Institute of Polar Research | Japan | 1981 | polaris.nipr.ac.jp |
| International Center for Earth Tides | ICET | University of French Polynesia | Tahiti Geodetic Observatory | France | 1966 | 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 | ngdc.noaa.gov |
| Space Science | | JAXA | Institute of Space and Astronautical Science | Japan | 1969 | |
| Space Science | | Chinese Academy of Sciences | National Space Science Center | China | 1988 | www.cssdc.ac.cn |
| Solid Earth Geophysics | SEG | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1971 | NGDC 1971–2015, NCEI |
| Solid Earth Geophysics | SEG | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Institute of Geology and Geophysics | China | 1988 | |
| Astronomy | | IAU, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) | France | 1972 | cds.unistra.fr |
| Astronomy | | 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 | www.wdc-climate.de |
| Marine Geology and Geophysics | | NOAA | National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) | USA | 1975 | 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 | ess-dive.lbl.gov |
| Sunspot Index & Solar Influences | SILSO, SIDC | IAU | Royal Observatory of Belgium | Belgium | 1985 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | wdc.dlr.de |