Background & Mission of the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (Thomas A. Boden, Director), which includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases, has served as the primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) since 1982.

CDIAC serves the climate change-related data and information needs of users worldwide. CDIAC's holdings - all of which are available free of charge - include estimates of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel consumption and land-use changes; records of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other radiatively active trace gases; carbon cycle and terrestrial carbon management datasets and analyses; global and regional climate data and time series; and analyses of land-cover/land-use change.

Please note: CDIAC does not archive climate model output, nor do we specialize in information on the medical aspects of carbon dioxide exposure, or industrial and household uses of carbon dioxide (e.g., commercial sources of canisters of compressed CO₂ gas, or fire extinguisher supplies).

CDIAC is supported by DOE's Climate and Environmental Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Dr. Wanda Ferrell is DOE's Program Manager with responsibility for CDIAC.