The British Antarctic Survey holds magnetic data measuring the plasmaspheric mass loading on magnetic field lines in Antarctica. The network of Low Power Magnetometer (LPM) instruments consists of permanent and temporary sites. The data is collected in 3 D fluxgate at up to 1 second and 1 nT resolution. Samples are taken once a second for 150 milliseconds at maximum power. This decreases to once a minute if power is low over the winter. Time and position is measured using an attached GPS system.

Ground truth measurements in the form of snow/ice cores were obtained from three sites in 2006: Rothschild Island, Latady Island and Smyley Island. The sites selected corresponded to the position of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) deployed during the previous season. At both the Rothschild Island and Smyley Island sites the AWS - due to an unprecedented amount of snowfall - had been buried. Therefore, two cores, 8m and 12m in length, were obtained from the approximate position of the AWS, in addition to the sampling of a snow pit. At the Latady Island site, the top 60cm of the 5m AWS was protruding above the surface - again, due to an unprecedented amount of snowfall. A diagonally descending trench was dug to recover the AWS and two cores were collected at this site. This work was carried out as part of a project to understand how air mass origin and meteorology affect the mass accumulation of snow in areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, and how the atmosphere''s properties are preserved in the snow, Photographs of the expedition showing the ground layout, the situation of the cores and what was done when they were gathered are available and stored with the data.

Instrumentation was deployed in the Antarctic Peninsula region to monitor conditions occurring in the region of near-space surrounding the Earth. The opportunity was taken to link into a NASA satellite mission occurring at the same time and with similar goals - to study the dynamics of the Earth-Sun system at a location where the two systems are finely balanced. The experiments have been used to interpret the changes in plasma composition at the same point in space due to solar weather events. A refurbished VLF Doppler receiver was installed at Rothera to measure plasmaspheric electron concentration. The electron number density was determined from analysis of the 15 minute integration providing group delay times, Doppler shift and arrival bearing of whistler-mode signals, of man-made transmissions, from MSK format transmitters from north east America. If you would like more information about the VLF Doppler receiver data that is still being routinely collected at Rothera please contact the UK Polar Data Centre at the British Antarctic Survey.

Long-term, continuous recording of VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio noise characteristics at Halley Station, collected under the aims of the VELOX experiment (VLF/ELF Data Logger Experiment). Data captured includes amplitude, polarisation, azimuth arrival bearing, maximum/minimum over ten frequency bands (8 wide, 2 narrow) from 300 Hz to 10 kHz at a 1 s time resolution. ELF/VLF measurements have been made in various forms at Halley since 1967. VELOX data are compatible with those from earlier loggers at Halley. For a full data description of BAS VLF/ELF data holdings, see BAS VLF/ELF/ULF Data Manual.

Three micro-power Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) with two sonic ranging sensors were deployed at field-sites situated at Rothschild Island, Latady Island and Smyley Island in January 2005. The AWS instruments included a wind vane and two humicaps on the mast and two sonic ranging sensors mounted on separate horizontal scaffold poles. The AWS data collected contributed to a project concerned with understanding how air mass origin and meteorology affect the mass accumulation of snow in areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, and how the atmosphere''s properties are preserved in the snow.

A transect of cores was taken from shelf to deep sea west of the Antarctic Peninsula off Marguerite Bay using a 12 m RVS piston corer, box corer and BGS vibrocorer deployed from RSS James Clark Ross cruise JR71 (12 days sea-time in 2001-2002). Successful coring and examination of sediments now on and immediately beneath the sea floor, which provided the deforming bed of the former ice stream, enhanced our understanding of conditions beneath ice streams. Data was collected as part of a project was to reconstruct the Late Quaternary dynamics of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet in Marguerite Bay and to compare sedimentation and ice-rafted debris records with the Larsen Ice Shelf area, on the other side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The mapping of streamlined sedimentary bedforms on the outer shelf has allowed the dimensions of a former fast-flowing ice stream present at the Last Glacial Maximum to be defined. This, in turn, enabled estimates of the past magnitude of ice flow through this glacial system to be calculated.

The long term monitoring of water chemistry in Signy Island lakes is unique in polar limnology, in its duration (30+ years), detail, and range of sites. It details seasonal patterns of snow and ice cover, inorganic nutrient status and chlorophyll-a and includes vertical profiles of various physical chemical parameters. There are detailed data for several study lakes and twice/thrice yearly analyses for all the Signy Island lakes. Temperature and light climate has been studied in certain lakes using automatic data loggers. Micrometeorological monitoring with additional data loggers provided data on solar radiation (PAR, UVR), air temperature, humidity and wind conditions. Data are collected by chemical analysis, use of temperature, pH light probes and observation. The ''grand prix'' was the sampling of 16 lakes in a short period (approx. one week), this was carried out perhaps two or three times a year. Approximately three to five lakes were sampled monthly or fortnightly in more detail, these were representative of the 16 lakes. Comparative studies were also undertaken in the Arctic. The long-term programme was established in 1971, although some observations were made in 1963/1964 and 1969/1970. The programme finished in 2004. As the exact months of the data collection were not provided, and the metadata standard requires a YYYY-MM-DD format, this dataset has been dated as 1st January for start date, and 31st December for stop date.

Automatic data loggers are often used to monitor environmental variables such as temperature (of air and soil), humidity, wind speed and radiation in microclimates where experimental or ecological studies are being carried out. Some loggers are only in operation for a few weeks or months while others have been run for several years. Loggers have been sited in a wide variety of locations from the sub-Antarctic (South Georgia), South Orkney Islands (Signy) various Peninsula sites (as far south as Alexander Island - 70S), and some continental localities (e.g. Victoria Land). These form an important data resource to the climate conditions experienced by Antarctic terrestrial organisms. Various types of logger are used. Sensors tend to be deployed at or near ground level and in and around particular types of vegetation, or other experimental sites, such as cloches. Loggers used include Grant, Delta-T, Campbell and Squirrels. Victoria Land data for Kay Island and Edmonson Point in 1995 and 1996 was collected under the BIOTEX 1 experiment of the SCAR BIOTAS (Biological Investigations of Terrestrial Antarctic Systems) Programme. An overview of BIOTEX is available as a PDF file.