the Regional Data Center (RDC) for the Cooperative Investigations 

 of the Northern Part of the Eastern Central Atlantic (CINECA), now 

 terminated. 



245. WORLD DATA CENTER: WDC 



Established In 1957 by the International Council of Scientific 

 Unions (ICSU), WDC's assemble and make available data Collected by 

 the varied and widespread observational programs of the Interna- 

 tional Geophysical Year (ICY). Original responsibility for super- 

 vision of the program was assigned to the Special Committee for the 

 International Geophysical Year and later to the International Geo- 

 physical Committee (CIG), Upon the abolishment of GIG in 1963, 

 responsibility for the world data centers was assigned to the ICSU 

 Panel on World Data Centers (PWDC). Since the close of IGY, the 

 centers' missions have been broadened to collect. Catalog, archive, 

 and exchange other data of international interest and to publish 

 catalogs of holdings. 



The United States, U.S.S.R. , and several other countries have world 

 data centers. Those in the United States are designated as WDC-A's, 

 those in the U.S.S.R. as WDC-B's, and the rest, regardless of loca- 

 tion, as WDC-C's. Each data center in each principal designated 

 system. A, B, C, is responsible for an Individual specialized field. 

 The Country in which the center is lodated is responsible for its 

 financial support even though the system is international. All 

 Centers operate within the framework of the Guide to International 

 Data Exchange through the World Data Centers, prepared by the former 

 Comite International de Geophyslque and published in 1965. 



WDC's for oceanography are located in the United States and U.S.S.R. 

 As yet, there is no WDC-C for Oceanography. WDC-A for Oceanography 

 is collocated with and administered by the U.S. National OCeanographic 

 Data Center, and WDC-B is in MosCow and is the responsibility of the 

 Soviet Geophysics Committee. The National Academy of Sciences in the 

 United States establishes policy guidance for WDC-A. WDC-B Ocean- 

 ography also acts as the Regional Data Center (RDC) for the Coopera- 

 tive Investigations in the Mediterranean (CIM) , now in abeyanCe. 

 Other world data centers of Interest to oceanographers cover such 

 topics as geomagnetism, longitude and latitude, meteorology and 

 nuclear radiation, seismology, and tsunamis. 



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