World Ocean Database Project
The World Ocean Database Project, or WOD, is a project established by the World Data Center system (WDC) and the U.S. government's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) intended to centrally store oceanographic data. In recognition of the success by the Global Oceanographic Data Archaeological and Rescue Project (GODAR project), a proposal was presented at the 16th Session of the Committee on International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE), which was held in Lisbon, Portugal, in October-November 2000, to establish the World Ocean Database Project. This project is intended to stimulate international exchange of modern oceanographic data and encourage the development of regional oceanographic databases as well as the implementation of regional quality control procedures. This new Project was endorsed by the IODE at the conclusion of the Portugal meeting, and the IOC subsequently approved this project in June 2001.