WMO GAW World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Archive

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) is operated by the Experimental Studies Division of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) [formerly Atmospheric Environment Service (AES)], Environment Canada and is located in Toronto.

The WOUDC began as the World Ozone Data Centre (WODC) in 1960 and produced its first data publication of Ozone Data for the World in 1964. In June 1992, the AES agreed to a request from the WMO to add ultraviolet radiation (UV) data to the WODC. The Data Centre has since been renamed to the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) with the two component parts: the WODC and the World Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WUDC).

The World Ozone Data Centre (WODC) operates a scientific archive and database providing a variety of ozone data sets to the international scientific community. There are over 300 stations represented in the archive some of which comprise over 35 years of continuous data. There are presently six ozone data categories (types) and three UV data types registered at the WOUDC. The ozone data archive contains the following data categories: Lidar vertical profiles, Ozonesonde vertical profiles, Total column ozone (Daily and Monthly values), Surface ozone (Daily summaries), and Umkehr N-value and C-Umkehr vertical profiles.

WUDC, like its ozone counterpart, is a scientific archive and database of high resolution spectral, multi-band and broad-band UV data. The database began receiving data in early 1993 and by the end of 1996 had an inventory of over 100 station years and 450,000 spectra from 21 stations.

The ozone and UV data are available on-line with updates occurring every week. In addition, data are published annually on CD-ROM which replaces the printed publication of Ozone Data for the World, a tradition that began back in 1964. Archived data are available by conventional FTP access and by a direct link from the WOUDC Data Web page accessed from the Data page. At present, conventional FTP access requires a username and password, which is available upon request. Ozone data are available from July 23, 1926 forward and UV data from March 1, 1989 forward.

In addition to WOUDC, there are four other GAW WDCs, each responsible for archiving one or more GAW measurement parameters or measurement types: Aerosols; Solar Radiation; Precipitation Chemistry; and Greenhouse Gases. Metadata for the other GAW monitoring programmes are also registered in ORNL DAAC Regional and Global Environmental Database.