There are four recognised World Data Centres which store oceanographic data for use by the global community. Such databases are crucial for scientific progress in determining the role of the ocean as part of the earth’s climate system. Oceanographic data contributed to the Silver Springs World Data Centre in the USA become automatically available to scientific investigators in any country. All data and publications received by WDC for Oceanography are described in the "Catalogue of Data and Report of Data Exchange".

Data held by the Silver Springs World Data Centre have used to produce the World Ocean Database in 2005. Further details of this product and available data downloads at: http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OCL/indprod.html

Establishment of the World Data Center (WDC) system occurred during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957-58 in order that scientific data gathered as part of the IGY be safely archived and accessible internationally without restriction. The World Data Center (WDC) System operates under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific Unions, a non-governmental organization of scientific unions.

MEDAG submits oceanographic data to the Silver Springs World Data Centre on behalf of the UK. Currently 25,000 CTD casts have been submitted which may then be used by the global oceanographic community for developing outputs such as regional climatologies and global models of climate.