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it also enables updated data and products to be accessed via database links. Many information 
systems that have been developed during the past decades have become accessible on the 
WWW, an example being INFOCLIMA of WMO. Use of the WWW is also taken into 
account in planning the data and information management for GCOS, GOOS, and GTOS 
(G30S). A joint body was established to formulate a Data and Information Management Plan 
for G30S - the Joint Data and Information Management Panel (JDIMP). The climate 
information system KLIS of the German Weather Service DWD is a WWW-based system 
integrated on an international level into GCOS and regionally into the EUMETNET 
programme ECSN. On a national level, it provides information on climate-relevant activities, 
data and products, which are mostly limited to the area of DWD. 
Products and services 
Global Collecting Centre (GCC) 
DWD maintains one of two Global Collecting Centres (GCC) within the framework of WMO. 
The countries whose vessels are taking part in the voluntary weather observation service at sea 
transmit their measurement data to the GCCs. After checking of the data and compilation of 
complete data sets, the data are transmitted on a quarterly basis to eight so-called Responsible 
Members operating subcentres, each of whom is responsible for a particular area of the world 
oceans. They apply agreed standards and formats. 
Marine meteorological data archives 
DWD maintains comprehensive data archives for marine meteorological data containing, i.a., 
worldwide shipboard observations, data from buoys and platforms, and increasingly also 
metadata. Apart from providing information and data, DWD also provides advice to users. 
Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) 
The Global Precipitation Climatology Centre operated by DWD, also known under its German 
name Weltzentrum fur Niederschlagsklimatologie (WZN) constitutes a central element of the 
Global Precipitation Climatology Project GPCP within the Global Energy and Water Cycle 
Experiment GEWEX. It is the purpose of WZN to perform worldwide analyses of monthly 
precipitation, based on regularly performed evaluations of observation data. The basis, first of 
all, is conventional measurement data which are processed, checked, and analyzed. The 
satellite data are processed by the U.S. partners (NOAA and NASA) and, in co-operation with 
GPCC, linked to form a raster data set covering the land and oceans. The GPCC data which 
have been available from January 1986 also include the estimated error for each individual 
areal precipitation analyzed. The raster data are disseminated via Internet and are thus openly 
accessible to the international climate research community. In future, GPCC will assume the 
permanent function of a Specialized Global Data Centre for Precipitation within the 
framework of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and will perform the functions of 
the GCOS Surface Network Monitoring Centre for Precipitation. 
Climate Information System KLIS 
The Climate Information System KLIS of the German Weather Service facilitates the search 
for climate-relevant information from the area of DWD. Being linked to the DWD’s relational 
database, which is under construction, it provides access to all GOOS programmes