Moving beyond the IGY: The Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY) concept

The International Geophysical Year (1957–1958) was inspired by the realization that much better and more complete information was needed about the Earth and geospace to understand and manage the complete terrestrial environment on which we depend. So it was that the IGY member countries worked together to deploy a large number of geophysical observatories around the world. These nations were pursuing the major IGY objectives to collect geophysical data as widely as possible, and to provide free access to these data for all scientists around the globe. About 50 permanent stations were set up in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the World Data Center System was established to ensure that the data collected were properly archived and made available without restrictions for scientific research and practical applications.