Most of the oceanographic data submitted to ICES is done so on a voluntary basis. The main incentive is to provide oceanographic data to the scientists of ICES Member Countries for their research purposes (mostly in connection with ICES objectives). About half of the submitted data arrives via the auspices of national oceanographic data centres. The remainder of the voluntary submissions arrive directly from the scientist collecting the data.

How?
The following delivery choices are preferred:

• By email to accessions@ices.dk
• By anonymous ftp to ftp://ftp.ices.dk/pub
  (please send covering email)
• By snail mail on CD/DVD-ROM

We welcome data in any format as long as it well described and structured consistently. Please compress any largish submissions using a win zip compatible compression routine. In order to ensure that we convert your data correctly please provide a statistical summary of your submission, including the range of each parameter. Please also provide a completed Cruise Summary Report form for each cruise, if convenient to do so. You should record all relevant documentation, such as methods and special circumstances.

The ICES Working Group on Data and Information Management (WGDIM) has developed a set of data type guidelines to assist those involved in the collection, processing, quality control and exchange of various types of (mainly) physical oceanographic data.