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Please note: Due to browser FTP deprecation, users will no longer be able to access NCEI data via browser FTP clients. Users may access data via NCEI Web Accessible Folders and/or FTP client supported applications. We apologize for any inconvenience. See this document as reference. 

Contributing Data

500 Frequent Contributors

You can contribute your data to the World Data Service for Paleoclimatology (WDS Paleo), and NOAA will permanently archive it. Contributing your data will allow you to satisfy obligations to publishers and funding agencies, make your data freely and permanently available without restrictions, have your data discovered and used by colleagues and others, and may increase the citation rate of your associated articles.

Instructions for Contributing Data

Data contributions should consist of metadata and one or more data tables including a chronology table, if applicable, as well as raw data and reconstructions. Contribute data and metadata using one of the contribution templates listed below.

Data Synthesis Projects:  WDS-Paleo requests that leaders of synthesis projects have their designated liaison contact WDS-Paleo staff (paleo@noaa.gov) early during research and development to speak about topics including appropriate data formats and the use of standard controlled vocabularies for defining terms. There is a new Synthesis template available below to allow contributors to provide us the metadata and data from the records used in a synthesis project. The final product data from a synthesis project can be contributed using our standard contribution template.

Please contact us at either 303-497-6280 or paleo@noaa.gov for any questions or further assistance.

General Instructions

Step 1: Prepare your metadata and data using one of the required data contribution templates, listed below. Depth in the first column and assigned age in the second column is preferred for stratigraphic data. For each column, a row should be placed at the top of the data table containing the attributes of the column as explained in the data contribution templates.

Step 2: Please send completed contribution templates as email attachments to paleo@noaa.gov (link sends e-mail). If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your contribution within 3 business days, please phone +1 303-497-6280. Please contact us at either the phone number or email address above for any questions or further assistance.

Step 3: You will receive a URL link to your data when they are online. Please review your contribution and contact us with any corrections or additions.

Instructions for Tree-Ring Data

Contributions to the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB) should be made in decadal “Tucson” format, and files should be emailed to paleo@noaa.gov. Please also complete the metadata portion of the text or Excel contribution template and include it with your contribution.

Instructions for Fire History Data

Contributions to the International Multiproxy Paleofire Database (IMPD) should be made via the Fire History tree-based (FHX) or charcoal template files below, and completed files should be emailed to paleo@noaa.gov.

Instructions for Chronology Tables

Chronology refers to the ages assigned to a stratigraphic section or other paleoclimatology sample, and chronology tables often consist of these ages combined with measured depths. Please provide chronology tables and the preferred age assignments for all samples in your data contribution.

When providing a chronology table, please provide sufficient information so that the ages can be recalibrated, uncertainty of the age determinations can be assessed, and new age models can be constructed.

Depth should be listed in the first column, and where appropriate, depth ranges should be provided in adjacent columns. Please also provide raw and calibrated ages as well as raw and calibrated uncertainty. To reduce conversion errors, use original units such as “years” or “thousands of years.”

For other age measurements, such as Lead-210 and Uranium series, journal articles provide examples of commonly used table structures and variables to include. Ages determined from multiple sources are often combined in a single table, for example, a table can combine ages such as a core-top age estimate of zero, a stratigraphic correlation tie-point, and radiocarbon ages on subsequent rows in a single table.

Contribution Templates and Controlled Lists