History and Evolution of the World Data Centre System
H. Rishbeth · Journal of geomagnetism and geoelectricity · 1991
The World Data Centre system was created at the time of the International Geophysical Year (1957-8) to collect, archive and distribute many kinds of geophysical and solar data. Since then, the World Data Centre system has served many international programmes and has broadened into new areas. Today there are about forty World Data Centres to serve the science of the 1990s, notably the Solar-Terrestrial Energy Programme and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. This paper describes the WDC system, primarily from the viewpoint of solar-terrestrial physics.