The new IDP2017 is a significant improvement over the earlier IDP2014 and roughly doubles the number of included cruises, stations, samples and parameters. The IDP2017 is a truly international product containing data from 326 researchers from 25 countries. The IDP2017 provides data for the Pacific Ocean, and the Mediterranean and Black seas, in addition to Atlantic, Arctic and Indian Oceans that were already represented in the previous data product. For the first time, the IDP2017 contains significant amounts of biogeochemistry data as well as TEI data for aerosols and rain. As before, users can obtain complete IDP2017 data sets as bulk downloads. Alternatively, there is now a customisable online data extraction service that allows data selections by domain, GEOTRACES sections, as well as parameters of interest. The extractor delivers smaller, more manageable data packages.

GEOTRACES invites and promotes use of the IDP2017 in the widest possible sense and envisages intensified collaboration within the marine geochemical community and beyond. Availability of large integrated and quality-controlled datasets, such as the IDP2017, enables a much wider range of studies than would be possible with individual single-cruise data alone.

The new, updated eGEOTRACES electronic atlas now contains more than 590 section plots (compared to 330 in IDP2014) and more than 130 animated 3D scenes (95 in IDP2014). Section and 3D scene pages are interlinked, and switching between different GEOTRACES sections, ocean basins and parameters is achieved with simple mouse clicks. eGEOTRACES section and 3D scene pages are now connected to the GEOTRACES publication database, easily providing with a simple mouse click up-to-date reference lists to the original publications related to the displayed data. This feature makes identification of data originators easy and encourages proper citation or initiation of collaborative research.

The animated 3D scenes in the eGEOTRACES Atlas show large amounts of data in an intuitive way and with geographic and bathymetric context, thereby providing quick large-scale overviews of TEI distributions and helping the scientific interpretation of TEI data. In addition, these animations are also appealing to a wider target community, including scientists from other disciplines or policy makers, as well as interested members of the general public. GEOTRACES encourages wide usage of eGEOTRACES visuals for all purposes, including teaching and outreach.

The IDP2017 is the second in a series of planned intermediate data products, with the next scheduled for release in 2021. Future data products will extend the geographical coverage by including data from new GEOTRACES cruises, as well as providing additional data from existing cruises for parameters that take longer to measure and complete. GEOTRACES invites user feedback (ipo@geotraces.org) on the IDP2017 to help make the next IDP an even more useful product.