The World Data Service for Cold and Arid Regions (CARD) is a new scientific data sharing system which is established on the basis of the former World Data Centre for Glaciology and Geocryology, Lanzhou and other data centres hosted by Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences. World Data System for Cold and Arid Regions is one of the constituents of World Data System. The data sharing system's main goals are to collect, manage and store the scientific data of Cold and Arid Regions area in China and provide the services for the scientific research of Cold and Arid Regions.