High-resolution simulations of extreme warm temperature events over South Georgia Islands using the UK Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) were conducted at the British Antarctic Survey. The simulations are conducted for the period 1 to 17 January 1991, which included an event in which the temperature at Signy station peaked at 17.4 degrees Celsius on 13 January 1991, as well as a series of consecutive warm events preceding this. The dataset consists of 1) 10 m zonal wind, 10 m meridional wind, 1.5 m temperature, 1.5 m dew point temperature, 1.5 m relative humidity, and mean sea level pressure at a temporal resolution of every 1 hr for the period 1 to 17 January, 2) zonal wind, meridional wind, vertical wind, and potential temperature on model levels at 00UTC 13 January, and 3) rainfall rate at 00 UTC 13 January (averaged over a 3-hr period). The MetUM is run over a domain that includes South Orkney Islands and the surrounding ocean, which comprises 120 x 120 grid points at a grid spacing of 1 km. The model output is used to investigate the detailed influence of South Orkney Islands orography on temperature, precipitation, and winds, and in particular the importance of foehn events in producing extreme warm temperatures at Signy station. Funding: 1) Core funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to the Atmosphere, Ice and Climate Programme of British Antarctic Survey (BAS). 2) NERC National Capability International grant SURface FluxEs In AnTarctica (NE/X009319/1). 3) European Union''s Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework programme under Grant agreement no. 101003590 (PolarRES).

Topographic contours of Signy Island with 10 m intervals, derived from a digital elevation model originally created using stereoscopic photogrammetry from VHR (very high resolution) In-Track stereo satellite imagery collected during March 2015. The topographic contours were created to support the updated release of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Signy Island map (BAS, 2024). The dataset is available as a polyline shapefile and a GeoPackage. WorldView-3 satellite images (c) 2015 Maxar Technologies.

Beached marine debris has been monitored on Signy Island since 1991. Data collection was carried out during summer months across three sites on the island: Foca Cove, Cummings Cove and Starfish Cove. This dataset summarises the amount of beached debris from monthly surveys by mass and type, with additional descriptions available. This monitoring contributes to the CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) Marine debris program and is part of the long-term monitoring carried out by the British Antarctic Survey at Signy Island. Ecosystems component of BAS Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme, funded by NERC.

This dataset contains reflectance spectra measurements of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) that were sampled from the Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean. Reflectance measurements were made on board on freshly caught krill, using a spectroradiometer. A number of these reflectance experiments were carried out across different regions of the Scotia Sea, on male, female and juvenile krill. Reflectance measurements are given for krill in both in situ and filtered seawater, as well as for water without krill. Data are presented in terms of remote sensing reflectance (Rrs). Funding for the work was primarily through a bursary awarded to Anna Belcher from Antarctic Science Ltd. Additionally, funding from the BAS ecosystems programme supported the project. The Natural Environment Research Council Field Spectroscopy Facility (NERC FSF) loaned the equipment required to carry out this research.

The South Orkney Fast-Ice series (SOFI) is an annual record of the timing of formation and breakout of fast-ice in Factory Cove, Signy Island, in the South Orkney Islands on the Scotia Arc in the northern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Fast-ice formation and break-up has been studied at the South Orkeny Islands since the early 1900s, with this dataset covering the period of 1903 to 2019. This dataset is produced by personnel from the British Antarctic Survey, in efforts to study sea-ice variability in the Southern Hemisphere. Data was collected using various methods over the reporting period, namely an offset date from Laurie Island''s fast-ice, direct observation, and with camera equipment. This is an updated version (2.0) of the dataset, that includes data from 2008 to 2019.

Land cover of Signy Island, consisting of rock outcrop, moraine, lakes, permanent ice and streams. All data were manually digitised from a VHR (very high resolution) satellite image acquired on the 10th February 2020. WorldView-2 satellite image (c) 2020 Maxar Technologies. The datasets are available as polygon and point shapefiles and GeoPackages. The data were created to support the updated release of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Signy Island map (BAS, 2024)

Spot heights of Signy Island, derived using stereoscopic photogrammetry from VHR (very high resolution) In-Track stereo satellite imagery collected during March 2015. The spot heights were created to support the updated release of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Signy Island map (BAS, 2024) and represent a series of points containing x, y and z values of high points and peaks. The dataset is available as a 3D point shapefile and a GeoPackage. WorldView-3 satellite images (c) 2015 Maxar Technologies.

Biological tissue samples from octopus species collected from the Southern Ocean, James Clark Ross cruise no. JR147/145. A large collection of tissue samples from deep sea and Antarctic target groups had already been collected in previous cruises. The specific objective of this cruise was to target three species of octopus, Pareledone charcoti (peak abundance 100m depth), Pareledone turqueti (peak abundance 100-200m) and Adelieledone polymorpha (peak abundance 250-350m), for the micro-evolution (i.e. population genetics) component of the project. Most of the octopuses were captured with an otter trawl, due to its relatively large sampling area and the fact that it can be trawled quickly (4 knots) which prevents octopuses from swimming out of it.

We present a new bathymetric compilation around the South Orkney Islands here defined by the following bounding box: 47 to 37 W, 63 to 59 S. This bathymetry grid was compiled from a variety of multibeam swath bathymetry data acquired during 46 different cruises (see lineage). The data is available as a grid of approximately 100 m resolution in a GMT-compatible (2-D) NetCDF format using geographic coordinates on the WGS84 datum. Three versions of the grid are available: the first one shows only swath bathymetry data while the second and third have been merged with the global compilations from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), GEBCO_2014 (version 20150318) and GEBCO_2019, respectively. Quick views are also available in the corresponding folder. Funding was provided by the NERC grants NE/K012843/1 and NE/N018095/1 as well as national capability