The Ice Core Data Gateway

The one stop gateway to ice core data is held at the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC), the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, and the Arctic System Science Coordination Center (ARCSS).

The Ice Core Data Gateway archives and distributes physical and geochemical data from ice cores collected from across the globe.

Typical data sets include age-depth relationships, oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios, chemical analysis, accumulation rates and pollen. Data are, in general, presented as ASCII files with a short text metadata description.

The archive is designed to provide access to ice core data sets over the long term, thereby making them available for comparison with future data, a critical component of change detection studies. By facilitating broad data access, the center promotes interdisciplinary scientific research.

Investigators are encouraged to contribute data sets derived from ice cores to the Ice Core Data Gateway. Data center staff will work with you to compile data set documentation prior to making the data available to users. Contributing scientists are given prominent recognition in the documentation. While the data center answers technical questions about format, citations for usage, etc., it can refer scientific questions to contributors if requested. Contributing your data to the Ice Core Data Gateway and associated data centers directly supports NSF Office of Polar Programs Guidelines and Award Conditions for Scientific Data (http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?opp991).

This effort is being coordinated with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Initiative and U.S. component of the International Trans Antarctic Science Expedition (ITASE).

The Ice Core Data Gateway is at:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icgate.html