The GCMD holds more than 29,000 Earth science dataset and service descriptions, which cover subject areas within the Earth and environmental sciences.Í The project mission is to assist researchers, policymakers and the public in the discovery of and access to data, related services and ancillary information (which includes descriptions of instruments and platforms) relevant to global change and Earth science research.Í Within this mission, the directory also offers online authoring tools to providers of data and services, facilitating the capability to make their products available to the Earth science community.Í