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Borehole

This dataset contains direct temperature measurements taken from boreholes drilled into the Earth's crust. These measurements can provide insight about past surface temperatures. Anomalies or departures from the geothermal gradient (measurements taken from deeper layers tend to be warmer) can be used to identify significant surface temperature changes in previous eras. A majority of the borehole data at the World Data Service for Paleoclimatology are from the University of Michigan's Global Database of Borehole Temperatures and Climate Reconstructions.

Drilling rig at night, San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). USGS photo.

Accessing Data at the World Data Service for Paleoclimatology

Search Borehole Data

Search through borehole studies by investigator, title, location name, parameters, and latitude/longitude bounds.

Launch Borehole Data Search

Search All Paleoclimatology Data

Access a free text search of our entire archive.

Launch Paleo Data Search

Interactive Map

Select study locations by region, proximity to a point, or text-based attributes.

Launch Interactive Map

Google Earth Map

Locate and download borehole studies using a Google Earth map interface. Google Earth must be installed to use this search tool.

Download KMZ File

NCEI Paleo Web Service

Use the NCEI Paleo Web Service to access borehole study metadata records.

API Documentation

Contributing Data

To contribute to the borehole archive, review our instructions for contributing data. Prospective data providers can email paleo@noaa.gov to submit data and study description information. Data providers can also contribute to the University of Michigan Borehole database.