Environmental data provide a view of the physical world as it is and an interpreted history of how it was. This is a world in constant change; and the scientific observation of its character produces volumes of data. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) have the task of bringing order and imagination to the work of managing, distributing and using this great mass of data. Much of the data is analyzed, checked for quality, reformatted, and distributed by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) in Boulder, Colorado. NGDC is one of three major data and information centers of NESDIS.
NGDC combines in a single center all data activities in the fields of solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, paleoclimatology, and solar-terrestrial physics; it also contracts with the University of Colorado to handle data services for the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Although some NGDC data come from the observation programs of other NOAA activities, much more result from cooperative arrangements with universities, other government agencies, and foreign organizations.
NGDC fills thousands of requests each year for data services and publications. Requests may range from an inquiry on solar flares that can be answered by telephone, to an order for several copies of strong-motion records that may take several days to prepare. Typical specialized data services may include digitization of analog charts, derivation of geomagnetic indexes, and customized computer graphics.
NGDC is responsible for operating World Data Centers for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Solid Earth Geophysics, Paleoclimatology and Marine Geology and Geophysics, Boulder, and for contracting WDC Glaciology (Snow and Ice), Boulder. The world data center mechanism and various data-exchange agreements enable NGDC to make available large amounts of worldwide data collected by both foreign and domestic organizations.
To obtain more information please contact us at:
National Geophysical Data Center
NOAA, Mail Code E/GC
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80305
NGDC GENERAL INFORMATION: (303) 497-6826
E-mail: info@ngdc.noaa.gov
Visit NGDC on the Internet at our WWW site: www.ngdc.noaa.gov/