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 Who we are

The World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) is a World Data Centre (WDC) operated under the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

In response to a request from WMO, the WDCGG was established at JMA in 1990.

Long-lived greenhouse gases such as CO2, CH4 and N2O contribute greatly to global warming. Accurate understanding of their states, including sources and sinks, is fundamental in the development of related mitigation and adaptation policies, and requires worldwide long-term precise observation data with a common reference standard and uniform quality. To promote related research, WDCGG and other WDCs make these data freely available to the scientific community worldwide.

 What we do

WDCGG serves to collect, archive and distribute data on greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, CFCs, N2O, etc.) and other related gases (CO, etc.) in the atmosphere and elsewhere as observed under the GAW programme.

WDCGG also operates as a Data Collection or Production Centre (DCPC) for the WMO Information System (WIS).

The WDCGG website is used to provide and update greenhouse gas observation data contributed by organizations and individual researchers worldwide (referred to here simply as contributors). Thanks to the generous support of these contributors, WDCGG has built an extensive archive of data along with GAW network development, and attributes the success of this work to everyone involved.

 Objectives

The objectives of WDCGG are to assist scientific research, assessment and policy making for environmental issues, ultimately contributing to a reduction of societal environmental risks, and to meet the requirements of related environmental conventions.

 Activities

Since its establishment in 1990, WDCGG has principally worked to achieve its stated objectives. The organization has also improved its operation and functions in accordance with the GAW Implementation Plan and GAW Strategic Plans.
 The current operations of WDCGG are:
  • to collect observation data and associated metadata on greenhouse and related gases from various platforms of the GAW observation network and relevant international research programmes;
  • to archive data of known quality for long-term use after validation;
  • to make the archived data freely available to users via the Internet; and
  • to provide value-added products and support information in order to facilitate more reliable monitoring and data analysis.

 WMO WDCGG Data Summary
WDCGG analyzes long-term trends and seasonal variations in the mole fractions of greenhouse and related gases, and publishes an annual synopsis of the information in the WMO WDCGG Data Summary.

 WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
WMO issues the WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin to report on the latest trends and atmospheric concentrations of key greenhouse gases. Thanks to contributors' generous support, WDCGG has significantly contributed to the bulletin via the provision of results from global analysis of greenhouse gases.

 History

The World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) was established at JMA in October 1990. The seven currently active GAW WDCs cover greenhouse gases, ozone/UV, precipitation chemistry, aerosols, reactive gases, solar radiation and remote sensing of the atmosphere.

The GAW network is officially recognized as contributing to the atmospheric composition domain (for CO2, CH4 and other gases) of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), which supports research and systematic observation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Under the GCOS-GAW Agreement of October 2006, WDCGG is charged with data management and provision of value-added products on these gas species in order to facilitate more reliable monitoring and data analysis.

In October 2002, WDCGG took over the role of the World Data Centre for Surface Ozone (WDCSO) from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).

However, on 1 January 2016, responsibility for archiving of reactive-gas observation data (other than for CO) was officially transferred to the newly established World Data Centre for Reactive Gases (WDCRG) hosted by NILU.

Reactive gas data submitted to WDCGG before 1 January 2016 have been migrated to WDCRG.


 About GAW

The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme of WMO (https://community.wmo.int/activity-areas/gaw) coordinates global atmospheric chemistry observation, analysis and scientific assessment related to the changing composition of the earth's atmosphere and its effects on weather, climate, water and the environment. GAW is the lead programme for implementing action in the atmospheric composition domain of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) on essential climate variables (greenhouse gases, ozone and aerosols). It is a major contributor to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) coordinating integrated global atmospheric chemistry observation and research on greenhouse gases, ozone, aerosols, reactive gases and precipitation chemistry.

The mission of GAW is to:
  • Reduce environmental risks to society and meet the requirements of environmental conventions.
  • Strengthen capabilities to predict climate, weather and air quality.
  • Contribute to scientific assessments in support of environmental policy.

To be achieved through:
  • Maintaining and applying global, long-term observations of the chemical composition and selected physical characteristics of the atmosphere.
  • Emphasizing quality assurance and quality control.
  • Delivering integrated products and services of relevance to users.


 Go to the WMO website