World Meteorological Organization

Data Rescue projects and initiatives (DARE)

Data Rescue is the ongoing process of preserving all data at risk of being lost due to deterioration of the medium and digitizing current and past data into computer compatible form for easy access. The establishment of the data rescue project has a high priority within WMO Programs and is critically important to ensure future generations of scientists and other data users to have access to all the information necessary for their studies and projects. These rescued data combined with already available data will enable better assessments of projections of the climate into the future that can serve as input for the policy makers to mitigate.

WMO is collaborating with several DARE initiatives such as ACRE, IEDRO, the NOAA Climate Database Modernization Programme (CDMP) which are currently underway to preserve and digitize climate data into computer compatible form:

	The CDMP Programme is a partnership between NCDC and private industry to image and key paper and microfilm records and to make them available on the Web to members of the climate and environmental research community. NCDC also provides funding under CDMP for other NOAA agencies with a need to place images online and/or digitize data.
	The International Environmental Data Rescue Organization (IEDRO) data rescue programme enables the meteorological and scientific communities to provide more accurate severe weather forecasting and to understand climate change. This knowledge offers the world community a greater ability to more accurately predict long-range weather patterns.
	The MEditerranean climate DAta REscue (MEDARE) project is an initiative, born under the auspice of the World Meteorological Organization, with the main objective is being to develop, consolidate and progress climate data and metadata rescue activities across the Greater Mediterranean Region (GMR).
	The international Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) project is collaborating with a number of international data rescue projects and activities.
	The Indian Ocean Data Rescue Initiative (INDARE)

Guidelines on Climate Data Rescue

Useful reference:

CCl report of DARE projects and activities worldwide (2008)