1. Historical Bachground

The original ICSU World Data Center (WDC) system was created in the International Geophysical Year (IGY) era (1957-1958) by the Special Committee for the IGY (CSAGI) under ICSU (International Council of Science, now International Science Council, ISC)  to archive and distribute data collected through observational programs planned in the era (Korsmo, 2010). The first group of WDCs was established in the USA (WDC-A), USSR (WDC-B), Europe (WDC-C1), and the Asia-Oceanic region (WDC-C2).   In the post-IGY era, the WDC system expanded to other countries and to new scientific disciplines, e.g. environmental sciences.  A comprehensive set of WDC-D was established in China in 1988.  The geographical distributions of data repositories under the WDC system in 2004 are shown in the figure below.   In 2008, ICSU decided to create the World Data System (WDS) by combining the data and information structures of the WDC system and the FAGS (Federation of Astronomical and Geophysical Data-Analysis Services).  Upon the closure of the WDC system, the total number of enlisted data repositories was 52 in 12 countries, and 18 repositories were in operation in the Asia-Oceania area.  Information on the WDC system is posted also by the WDC for Geomagnetism, Kyoto.

Archive of Documents held by the ICSU WDC Panel













                           




  　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ICSU World  Data Center (WDC) system as of 2004

2. Data repositories of former ICSU WDC system (2022)

Current activities of former WDC repositories can be seen through the list of hosting countries shown below.  Almost all former WDC repositories in the A&O area continue to update and open their data holdings even after the closure of the ICSU WDC system in 2008.  The information includes the original name of the WDC repository, the current name of the repository when the repository does not use the original name, the name of the hosting institution, data holdings, and the URL of the Website for accessing data.  Please click the button to see the information in the country base:

Australia (1)
China (9)
India (1)
Japan (7)