The Airborne Research & Survey Facility (ARSF, formerly Airborne Remote Sensing Facility) is managed by NERC Scientific Services and Programme Management. It provides the UK environmental science community, and other potential users, with the means to obtain remotely-sensed data in support of research, survey and monitoring programmes. The ARSF is a unique service providing environmental researchers, engineers and surveyors with synoptic analogue and digital imagery of high spatial and spectral resolution.The NEODC holds the entire archive of Airborne Thematic Mapper (ATM) and Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) data acquired by the NERC ARSF. High-resolution scanned digital versions of the entire collection of analogue photographs are now also available as well as selected LiDAR-derived elevation and terrain models for selected sites flown using the sensor.

The Land Classification of Cumbria is a classification of the county of Cumbria (Great Britain) into a set of 16 environmental strata, termed land classes, to be used as a basis for ecological survey, originally developed by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) in 1975. The strata were created from the multivariate analysis of 150 environmental variables, including topographic data, geographical features and geology data. The Land Classification can be used to stratify a wide range of ecological and biogeographical surveys to improve the efficiency of collection, analysis and presentation of information derived from a sample. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/0ac6249c-a6f2-4147-8ae9-50d576e85fc5

This dataset comprises plant species, soils, habitat types and major biota present, collected during a survey of the English county of Cumbria, using standardised survey methods. The survey was undertaken by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (a forerunner of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) in 1975 within a stratified random set of sites. In total, up to 650 plots were surveyed from within 48 x 1km squares. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/e96b909d-d52e-4b36-bc51-905ece420794

This data set comprises plant species, habitat and land cover types, and major biota present, collected during an ecological survey of marginal uplands in the English county of Cumbria, using standardised survey methods. The survey was undertaken by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (a forerunner of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology) in 1978 within a stratified random set of sites. In total, up to 262 plots were surveyed from within 52 x 1km squares. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a4f2d52b-1515-434e-bfc3-83b3a53be1c5

The data contain solar radiation, air temperature, temperature depression, wind velocity, wind direction and rainfall from Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) located at Moor House and Helbeck, Cumbria, UK. This data contain a mixture of hourly and daily readings. The data were collected between July 1974 and February 1987 at Moor House and between May 1974 and October 1983 at Helbeck. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/77df4b96-c5e4-419a-b7cf-fc1d9a05c61c

This dataset includes individual passive detector measurements of radon Rn-222 in the air of artificial burrows, Rn-222 measurements by instrumentation in soil gas of interstitial soil pores and burrow air, gamma analyses results for soil samples and, soil moisture and temperature data. Estimates of absorbed dose rates to wildlife from exposure to natural background radionuclides are required to put estimates of dose rates arising from regulated releases of radioactivity and proposed benchmarks into context. These data are from a study conducted at seven sites in northwest England (comprising broadleaved and coniferous woodlands, scrubland and pastures). Passive track etch detectors were used to measure the Rn-222 concentrations in artificial burrows over a period of approximately one year (July 2009 to June 2010). Instrumented measurements of burrow air and soil pore gas were also conducted in October 2009. The data result from a study funded by NERC-CEH and the England & Wales Environment Agency. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/2641515F-5B76-445C-A936-1DA51BF365AD

This is a digital map containing polygons representing areas of vegetation within Roudsea Wood National Nature Reserve (NNR), Cumbria. Vegetation was mapped in the field on a basemap as parcels according to tree cover type, tree stocking rates and ground flora communities. The map covers the western side of the reserve (the woodland). The field map was originally created by staff at the Nature Conservancy’s Merlewood Research Station, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria in 1962 and digitized by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology from the original field map in 2019. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a8d710fb-177d-467c-b2c1-2b215f582d2c

The dataset consists of solute concentrations (Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Sodium, Aluminium, Phosphate, Nitrate, Ammonium, Chlorine, Sulphate), also pH and suspended solids, in waters sampled from clear felled and standing Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) forest ecosystems in Kershope Forest, Cumbria, UK. Water samples were collected from the ecosystem of a Sitka spruce plantation at weekly intervals for six years. The drainage system of the site had been designed to divide the plantation into a series of artificial catchments, three of which were designated experimental plots and clearfelled in the second year of sampling while three others were the control plots which remained unfelled until the end of the study. This work formed part of a programme of field and laboratory work to determine the effects of felling plantation forest on soil processes. Samples were collected by staff from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) between 1981 and 1987. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/3f22ef89-22d3-4876-a99e-7ee28f775e0e

This dataset consists of information regarding the abundance of fish species from Windermere, and includes long-term data on Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus), Pike (Esox lucius), Perch (Perca fluviatilis) and some recent data on Roach (Rutilus rutilus) from net and trap sampling, together with data on total fish abundance from hydroacoustics. Data collection began in 1940. With the exception of the hydroacoustics, the data were initially collected by the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) but have been collected by CEH and its predecessor Institute of Freshwater Ecology (IFE) since 1989. The hydroacoustics data have been collected by CEH/IFE since 1990. The data available to download originate from Windermere North and South Basins and are given as yearly averages.

This dataset presents the results of an initial sampling exercise conducted at a terrestrial site in northwest England in summer 2010. The following samples of terrestrial Reference Animals and Plants (RAPs) were obtained from an area of circa 0.4 km squared: Molinia caerulea (ICRP RAP Wild Grass defined as Poaceae); Picea sitchensis (ICRP RAP Pine Tree defined as Pinaceae); Apis spp., Bombus spp., Nomada spp. (ICRP RAP Bee defined as Apidea); Apodemus sylvaticus (ICRP RAP Rat defined as Muridae); Earthworms (species in the Family Lumbricidae as defined for the ICRP RAP Earthworm); Deer (belonging to the Family Anatidae (i.e. the ICRP RAP Deer). Soil samples were also collected from throughout the sampling area. All samples were analysed for multiple elements using ICP-MS/ICP-OES and most for gamma-emitting radionuclides. Results have been used to derive biota-soil concentration ratios. The ICRP have published their framework for radiation protection of the environment (ICRP Publication 108). This describes the use of RAPs as the basis for their framework. The RAPs are generalised to the taxonomic level of Family. Publication 108 presented dose coefficient values for the selected RAPs and also reviewed data on the effects of ionising radiation to suggest Derived Consideration Reference Levels for each RAP. In summer 2010 the ICRP released a further report on their protection framework for consultation. This report presented transfer parameter values (organism-media concentration ratios) for Reference Animals and Plants. The report also raised the possibility of identifying a series of sites where samples of each Reference Animal and Plant, and their different lifestages, could be collected and analysed. It was suggested that the resultant data would constitute a set of reference values analogous to approaches used by the ICRP for human radiological protection. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/e40b53d4-6699-4557-bd55-10d196ece9ea