In Autumn 1995, the Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (GDAAC) compiled the Climatology Interdisciplinary Data Collection (CIDC) to facilitate interdisciplinary studies related to climate and global change. This data collection has been produced in collaboration with the Center for Earth Observing and Space Research (CEOSR), Institute for Computational Sciences and Informatics (CSI), and George Mason University. It was designed for the study of global change, seasonal to interannual climate change, and other phenomena that require from one to dozens of interacting parameters.

A few of the possible study areas are the depletion of stratospheric ozone, the weather changes associated with the periodic El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, periodic droughts, and global warming. Short background information scenarios are given on the CD for the Monsoon, El Niño, and global warming phenomena.

The CD set also contains read software and the Gridded Analysis and Display System (GrADS).

Data from the scientific disciplines dealing with meteorology and atmospheric sciences, land surface, ocean, cryosphere, biosphere, the Sun, and remote sensing science have been gathered into one place and, where feasible, presented in a common format (monthly means with a 1° x 1° world grid, or commensurable resolution and IEEE 32-bit floating point numbers). Over 70 physical parameters from some 25 separate datasets are represented. The Data Collection Overview document on the CDs lists alphabetically all the physical parameters along with the dataset(s) in which they can be found. It also contains a separate listing of each dataset, its origin, and the parameters included. Each dataset is also accompanied by a detailed user's guide.

The Climatology Interdisciplinary Data Collection (CIDC) has been subdivided into seven categories. The grouping is influenced by the types of physical parameters involved and partially by the way that they are processed. Because of this the same physical parameter may appear in several datasets and in more than one category. When this occurs different algorithms have normally been used to produce the parameter. The included datasets included below.

Atmospheric dynamics & atmospheric sounding products
Radiation and clouds
Biosphere data
Measured variable atmospheric constituents
Measured surface temperature and pressure
Hydrological data
Remote sensing science

The data on the CD set was collected in a variety of ways, using remote sensing, direct measurements, and model output. The individual datasets were provided in a variety of forms. In some cases this required the data publication team to regrid and reformat datasets and in others to produce monthly averages from finer resolution data. The specific handling for each dataset is detailed in the documentation. The regridded, reformatted, integrated, and peer reviewed datasets are published on this four-volume CD collection.

The data are held online at the BADC are public and are made available for browsing purposes.

Volume 1: Biosphere, Hydrology, Surface Temperature, Ozone, Greenhouse Gases
Volume 2: Atmospheric Dynamics
Volume 3: Radiation and Clouds
Volume 4: Atmospheric Surroundings