The Laboratory of Geophysical Data performs a function of the World Data Center for Solar-Terrestrial Physics (WDC for STP) and the World Data Center for Solid Earth Physics (WDC for SEP), accepted as the Regular Members of the World Data System (WDS) since 2012 (http://www.icsu-wds.org) of the International Council for Science (ICSU). The general principles of the laboratory are to accumulate and save various geophysical data for the benefit of the scientific community, providing appropriate access to these data. The activity of all members of the World Data System is coordinated by the WDS Scientific Committee. The main functions are outlined in the Constitution to the WDS:

• Data collection resulting from networks of observatories, land and sea expeditions, launches of the satellites, special experiments, etc.
• Data management — analysis, quality control, systematization, organization of the guaranteed long-term storage for the data.
• Information support of archives and databases, generation of metadata.
• Providing free access to data, to render assistance to the educational programs, to participate in scientific research.

WDCs have the web site on the server (http://www.wdcb.ru/) with informational resources that are free available for all researchers. These resources include digital geophysical data, metadata, thematic databases, and so on. The program modules are developed to give the interface for search, browsing and obtaining of data to users.

After completing the "International Polar Year 2007-2008″ the laboratory continues to accumulate new resources from investigations in both the Arctic and Antarctic. These data are accessible on website of WDC (http://www.wdcb.ru/WDCB/IPY/IPY.html).

The information interdisciplinary database of geological-geophysical parameters of the crust and the upper mantle for active continental margins of a transition zone from the Eurasian Continent to Pacific Ocean is created in the WDC for SEP. The data source includes the extensive information on regions of the Sea of Okhotsk, Sea of Japan, Philippine Sea, South China Sea and geodynamic models of all regions under investigation (http://www.wdcb.ru/sep/lithosphere/lithosphere.html).

In the WDC for STP the base of digital images for analog and tabular data from geomagnetic observatories of Russia and other countries of the CIS is created under the international projects: "The Rescue of magnetograms for the observatories of the former Soviet Union" supported by ICSU Panel on WDCs and "Rescue of old analog magnetograms" (ICSU Project).

Currently, the Laboratory of Geophysical Data is implementing the Project "Digital Preservation of Data" — converting geomagnetic and ionospheric data from paper medium to electronic form in order to expand information resources in electronic form, preserve valuable historical data and provide convenient access to them.

In cooperation with the Laboratory of Electronic Publications the Project "Earth Science DataBase" — ESDB (http://esdb.wdcb.ru/) is realized to create a modern system of registration, publication, and citation of geophysical data with digital object identifier DOI (Digital Object Identifier) minting. The main goal of the project is to improve the importance and accessibility of geophysical data for scientific research, to facilitate the search, identification and publication of data, as well as the development of a culture of data citation.