The project was completed by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) and was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The focus of the project was to develop records spanning the last ~ 80,000 years of the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and Antarctic climate, and to do this with the highest possible time resolution.

The project is best known for producing records of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane with high time resolution and dating accuracy.

Site preparation started in the 2005/2006 season with the construction of the skiway, and a steel arch shelter for drilling and core processing.

The project developed information on: Paleoceanography will publish a special edition that includes all WAIS Divide related AGU publications as April 2016.