INQUA Working Group on Data-Handling Methods

Newsletter 12: July 1994

WORLD DATA CENTER-A FOR PALEOCLIMATOLOGY DATABASE HOLDINGS AND DATA DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS

E-mail: rsw@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov
bab@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov

The World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology archive contains a growing umber paleoenvironmental datasets. Table 1 lists current data holdings followed by a brief description, and identifies datasets received or updated since the beginning of the year. Access and retrieval of these data over the toll-free electronic information highway has continued at a high pace over the last year, averaging 300 individuals per month from over 25 countries. As the database matures, we are formalizing guidelines for the types of "metadata" (peripheral data or information about the dataset) that are necessary to ensure accurate documentation of archived data. Table 2 provides a preliminary list of the range of information that has proven useful in generating documentation files. Identification of "key" data sets not currently archived as well as comments on the list of metadata are welcome from the international paleoclimatology community. We encourage you to contact the data center with comments or questions on how to archive data. E-mail: paleo@mail.ngdc.noaa.gov; phone: 303 497 6227; fax: 303 497 6513.

AEA/WMO Network of Isotopes in Precipitation ***

Monthly 18O, Deuterium, and Tritium in rainfall, 421 sites

Barbados Sea Level and Th/U Calibration

Radiocarbon-controlled sea level curve & calibration of Th/U - C14 dating

Calcium Carbonate Database

CaCO3% data from 350 marine sediment cores, plus C14 dates

CLIMAP 18K Database

CLIMAP project data for 18,000 YBP: plankton counts, mineralogy, SST estimates

CLIMAP 120K Database

CLIMAP project data for 120,000 YBP: plankton counts and SST estimates

Climate Reconstructions from Tree-Rings

Reconstructed temperature and precipitation, 92 sites SW USA

Climate Since AD 1500 Database

Data from Bradley & Jones book, including historical, ice core, and tree-ring data and reconstructions.

Coral Data Sets***

Geochemical Data from 5 Pacific sites Eastern North American Vegetation Change for the Past 18kYr. Array mapping of Vegetation types at 3KYr interval, 21K to present

Elk Lake, Minnesota Data Set

Varve thickness, pollen, diatoms, geochemistry, isotopes, mineralogy

Fossil Plankton Stratigraphies 1 (LDGO)Data Set

Plankton counts and SST estimates, 35 north Atlantic cores

Fossil Plankton Stratigraphies 2 (Russian) Data set

Foram counts, Atlantic Ocean, 235 cores

GCM Output ***

NASA/GISS climate model simulations for 11 & 18 KYBP, SST and CO2 scenarios

Ice Core Data from GRIP: Methane

40Kyr series of Methane from the Greenland Ice Core Project ***

Ice Core Data from GRIP: O-18

d18O from the Greenland Ice Core Project, from Johnsen et al. ***

Ice Core Data from Quelccaya Ice Cap

Isotopes, Accumulation, Dust, Conductivity

Ice Core Data from Vostok

160KYr series of CH4, CO2, Dust, and Temperature interpretations

Ice Topography and Extent ***

Ice sheet and glacier topography and extent, 21KYrBP to Present

International Tree-Ring Data Bank ***

Ring Widths, Densities, and Chronologies, 1100 sites

Little Ice Age Summer Temperatures and Annual Precipitation

for the Northeastern and North Central United States

NICL Ice Core Sample Inventory ***

Detailed inventory of ice cores curated at the National Ice Core Laboratory, Denver, CO

North American Pollen Database ***

Counts and percentages, 464 sites

Orbital Variations and Insolation Data Set

Orbital parameters and insolation, 1,000 year intervals

Relative Sea Level Database

Radiocarbon-controlled relative sea level histories, 392 sites

SPECMAP Archive #1

Counts, isotopes, SST's, age models at 17 sites, plus spectral analysis

SPECMAP Archive #2

Counts, isotopes, SST's, age models, spectral analysis, 21 sites

SPECMAP Archive #3

Devil's Hole spectral analysis vs 4 marine sites, with counts, isotopes, SST's, age models

SPECMAP Archive #42

Counts, isotopes, SST's, age models, spectral analysis, 17 sites

Swiss Historical Climate Indices ***

Graduated Indices GI [+3 ,-3] for both temperature and precipitation from 1525 to 1989

The Sahara in the Holocene Radiocarbon Data ***

Over 2000 radiocarbon dates from organic and mineral deposits in the Sahara Desert

Required Information

data set name
latitude(s) of site or grid points
longitude(s) of sites or grid points
bathymetry/elevation
time period represented by data
contributors
references
variable names
variable unit
data precision
data format
contact information (mail, phone, electronic)

Optional Information

additional site information
brief description of data set
methods including references
chronostratigraphic information
date of data generation
any other information that would make the data more useful.