Data-Sharing Work of the World Data Center for Geophysics, Beijing

Data Science Journal, Volume 6, Supplement, 8 July 2007 DATA-SHARING WORK OF THE WORLD DATA CENTER FOR GEOPHYSICS, BEIJING Fenglin Peng1,2, Xiaoyang Shen1,2, Keyun Tang1,2, Jian Zhang2,3, Qinghua Huang4, Yuanfang Xu1,2, Bangyan Yue1,2, and Dan Yang2,3 1 Institute of Geology and Geophysics, CAS; WDC for Geophysics, Beijing; 3 Gradute Univ. of CAS; 4 Peking University; WDC for Geophysics, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing, 100029, China; 010-62007977 Email: 2 ABSTRACT The World Data Center (WDC) for Geophysics, Beijing, was founded in 1988. Supported by The Chinese Academy of Science and The Ministry of Science and Technology, our center has made much progress in recent years. The center has not only established the database to restore data which contain heat flow data, geomagnetic data, gravity data, etc. but also put them on the Internet (http://gp.wdc.cn) to provide free data service. The center has expended a great deal of effort to rescue the magnetograms observed 100 years ago by the Sheshan Observatory, the earliest geomagnetic observatory in China. The geophysics data of our center are abundant, and the way to get the data and information from the website is very simple and easily obtainable. In the future, the center will edit more data and construct a strong, convenient database in order to provide the better service to users. Keywords: Geophysics data, World Data Center 1 INTRODUCTION The study of geophysics is rich in intellectual challenges and has tremendous potential to dramatically alter and improve our society and our lives. Geophysics research in China has a very long history, so the accumulation of various kinds of data information resources has a broad range and abundant records. The earliest geomagnetic observatory with the modern norm of geo-science research was set up in the 1870s. Its magnetograms are some of the most precious geophysical measurements collected in the world. The Chinese geophysical society was established in the 1940s and accumulated a large amount of observation data. Since the 1950s, with the founding of large numbers of geomagnetic observation posts and earthquake observations stations, the development of space technology and with national geophysical exploration, a large number of data, images, simulation records, and more have been accumulated.. These information resources have widespread use in geology, physical prospecting, surveying and geodesy, earthquake study, military, navigation, and scientific research. How to manage and utilize these information resources effectively, to realize scientific data resource sharing, and to push forward the advance of the entire geophysics discipline is the vital problem that scientific workers pay close attention to. In support of this goal, the task of the data sharing network of WDC is the storage, retrieval, management and exchange of these scientific data. The WDC works with data about geophysics, solid earth geophysics, solar-terrestrial physics, ancient climatology, etc. In addition, it offers links to relevant educational and other websites. Meanwhile, it still serves as the discipline center of every above-mentioned field of the WDC. 2 OPERATING SYSTEMS AND REGULATIONS OF THE WDC FOR GEOPHYSICS, BEIJING The Institute of Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1950, based on the department of geomagnetism of the Institute of Physics, formerly the Central Academy of Science. The institute was the one of the major founders of modern Chinese geophysics, including geophysics, atmospheric physics, space physics, and spaceflight. In 1999, The Institute of Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and The Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences were combined into a new institute, the Institute of Geology and S404 Data Science Journal, Volume 6, Supplement, 8 July 2007 Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Today, the World Data Center for Geophysics, Beijing, is based at the new institute. The Center is supported by The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Through more than fifty years of effort, the institute has completed more than 100 national key projects, including 21 Antarctic expeditions, from 1984 to 2005, and collected huge amounts of scientific data, such as geomagnetic data, gravity data, geo-electric field data, and seismic wave data. Some of the systematic data that were collected have been reorganized by the WDC for Geophysics. The Center also cooperates with the College of Earth Science, the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Geophysics, the School of Earth and Space Sciences of Peking University, and the University of Science and Technology of China. The principles we implement are building together, possessing together, sharing together, and managing together. 3 COLLECTING AND ARRANGING THE SCIENTIFIC DATA OF GEOPHYSICS The existing data resources have come mainly from long-term experiments and monitoring. The center has geomagnetic main field paper charts stretching over a long history and microfilms of magnetograms from Sheshan that have been rescued, as well as other data stored on CDs and hard disks. The disciplines covered include solid earth geophysics, marine physics, space physics, atmosphere physics and the second tier disciplines such as geothermics, geomagnetism, seismology, ionosphere physics, geo-electricity, earth electromagnetism, etc. In terms of regional coverage, data covers the southeast, Yunnan-Guizhou, the South China Sea Islands, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Arctic, and the Antarctic; The applications of these data resources are distributed throughout scientific research, national defense, communication, aviation, navigation, and mining. To enrich the data materials listed above, according to current demand, we have tentatively designed the following databases: (1). Basic parameters of geophysics; (2). Information system (centre) of geophysics environmental monitoring (alarm); (3). Geomagnetics; (4). Space physics of high altitude; (5). Gravity; (6). Deep structure of the earth; (7). Geothermics; (8). Geoelectricity; (9). Geodynamics; (10). Several foreign geophysics database mirror image websites; (11). History of geophysics study; and (12). Scholars’ information of Chinese geophysics. 4 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WDC FOR GEOPHYSICS, BEIJING In the late 1990s, with the growing rapidity of development of the society , the demand for sharing scientific data on the net became stronger every day, while the rapid development of computers, networks, and database technology made this idea gradually feasible. According to the task of the pilot project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, this center began to utilize a computer network to carry on data services, successively setting up the website and database on the server of the research room and then the research institute. At first, the website was based on the HTML langua (...truncated)