Data comprise water chemistry measurements (major alkali and alkali-earth element water concentrations and trace element concentrations) recorded over two years at seven lakes in Belarus and Ukraine at distances from 1.5 to 225 km of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP). The lakes include Glubokoye, Yanovsky lakes and Cooling Pond (high (H) contaminated lakes), Svyatoye Lake (medium (M) contaminated lake) and Stoyacheye, Dvoriche and Gorova lakes (low (L) contaminated lakes). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b29d8ab8-9aa7-4f63-a03d-4ed176c32bf3

This dataset contains fossil and modern pollen data collated during a workshop held in the UK in 2008 as part of the NERC (Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System) QUEST programme. The 96 sampling sites are located from 24°E (western Ukraine and Belarus) to easternmost Siberia, and lie north of latitude 40°N. The sample ages range from 21ka to present and are assigned to 1,000 year time slices. The dataset has been checked for consistent taxonomy and a redundancy-free taxonomy has been produced. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/6aeba247-52d1-4e84-949f-603742af40c1

Data comprise sample site information, dose rate, radionuclide (zirconium-95, niobium-95, ruthenium-106, caesium-134, caesium-137 and cerium-144) deposition, and exchangeable caesium-134 and 137 in soils collected from within a 60 km radius of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP) in 1987 following the Chernobyl nuclear accident on 26th April 1986. The work was carried out by the Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology (UIAR), a division of National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. Funding for preparing this data set was provided by the TREE project (funded by NERC, the Environment Agency and Radioactive Waste Management Ltd under the RATE programme) and associated iCLEAR projects (funded by NERC). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a408ac9d-763e-4f4c-ba72-73bc2d1f596d

Data comprise health, reproductive status and relative abundance of mature perch and roach collected in September 2014, March 2015, June 2015 and September 2015 from lakes in Belarus and Ukraine. Measurements presented include age, weight, length, presence of external signs of disease and presence of macroscopic tumors. The Fulton condition index (K), hepatosomatic index (HSI) and gonadosomatic index (GSI) of fish are also presented. The lakes (selected according to hydrological properties and long-term exposure to a gradient of radiation dose) are situated at distances from 1.5 to 225 km of the Chernobyl NPP. Glubokoye, Yanovsky lakes and Cooling Pond are the high (H) contaminated lakes, Svyatoye Lake is a medium (M) contaminated lake, and Stoyacheye, Dvoriche and Gorova lakes are the low (L) contaminated lakes. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/02a53248-1bfd-4f1e-8f76-888551635c98

Data comprise radionuclide deposition, radioactivity dose measurements, radioactive particle activity and physical characteristic information from soil samples collected within and around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Data include radiocaesium, radiostrontium and soil chemistry parameters from soils collected in 1997, plutonium isotope measurements in soil samples and soil layers collected in 2000 and 2001, 'Hot particle' dataset presenting radionuclide activity and some physical characteristics of 'hot particles' extracted from soils collected in the Ukraine and Poland between 1995 and 1997; and Ivankov region data (radionuclide activity concentrations and natural background dose measurements) from a survey of the Ivankov region, immediately to the south of the CEZ conducted in 2014. Funding for preparing this data set was provided by the EU COMET project (http://www.radioecology-exchange.org/content/comet) and TREE (http://www.ceh.ac.uk/tree) project funded by the NERC, Environment Agency and Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. under the RATE programme. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/782ec845-2135-4698-8881-b38823e533bf

Data comprise audio files captured using a Wildlife Acoustics SM3 Songmeter located on an overgrown unpaved road close to several abandoned houses with deciduous trees (including fruit trees in former gardens) in the abandoned village of Buryakovka in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Ukraine. A single continuous recording of twelve hours of audio from midday until midnight on the 25th June 2015 was manually annotated by an expert (using Raven Pro interactive sound analysis software). The dataset comprises the resultant five wave files (stereo .wav sampled at 48 kHz) and five annotation files (text files with the same name as the associated wave file). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/be5639e9-75e9-4aa3-afdd-65ba80352591

Data comprise radionuclide activity concentrations, stable element concentrations and both radionuclide and stable element concentration ratios for vegetation and wildlife samples collected in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) in 2014. Estimated absorbed dose rates for wildlife in the CEZ are also presented. Samples of soil, wild grass, earthworms, bees and other insects, small mammals, pine trees and frogs were collected in May and June 2014; frogspawn was collected in April 2015. Data were used to assess the uptake of radionuclides by wildlife living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) and also absorbed dose rates. The isotopes measured were: Americium-241, Caesium-137, Plutonium-238, -239 and -240, Strontium-90 (K-40 and U-238 activity concentrations were estimated from stable element data). Funding for this work was via the TREE project funded by the NERC, Environment Agency and Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. under the RATE programme. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/ae02f4e8-9486-4b47-93ef-e49dd9ddecd4

Data comprise radionuclide concentrations in soils and a range of terrestrial vertebrate species (reptiles, small mammals and birds) sampled in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) between 1999 and 2008. Reptiles were collected in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007, birds, bats, and small mammals were collected in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. Dose rate data are provided for one study, both as ambient dose rate measurements and also as recorded by thermoluminescent dosimeters attached to small mammal species. The isotopes measured include: Americium-241, Caesium-134 and 137, Cobalt-60, Europium-154 and 155, Potassium-40, Plutonium-238, -239 and -240, Strontium-90. The data were used to assess the concentration of radioactive contamination in soil, consequent uptake of radionuclides by wildlife living in the CEZ and to test prediction of the ERICA Tool assessment model. The data were used to assess the uptake of radionuclides by wildlife living in the CEZ and to derive transfer parameters, and also to test predictions of the assessment model the ‘ERICA Tool’. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/518f88df-bfe7-442e-97ad-922b5aef003a

The data presented here comprise a catalogue of 11633 trap camera images obtained during the period November 2020 to March 2021; this period is described within the dataset as setup 2. Following the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 an approximately 5000 km2 exclusion zone surrounding the plant was created; people and farm animals were subsequently evacuated from the area. In April 2020 there were severe wildfires within the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone (2600 km2) where approximately 870 km2 was burnt. The NERC funded CHAR project conducted a study which involved placing motion activated digital trap cameras at three sites (each covering an area of 80 km2) within the Ukrainian exclusion zone from June 2020 - August 2021 to assess large mammal activity following the fire. Thirteen cameras were randomly located at each site; all camera deployment locations had been used in a previous study 2014-2015 (https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/chernobyl-images). All the images obtained during November 2020-March 2021 (setup 2) are included as part of the dataset with the exception of those containing people, vehicles or members of the CHAR research team setting up and servicing the cameras; these images (n= 692) have been catalogued but the images are not included in the dataset to protect privacy. Information on camera deployment periods, site characteristics and descriptions of each camera location (e.g. geographic coordinates, estimates of ambient dose rate, description of animal trails or tracks and the extent of fire damage in vicinity of where the camera is mounted) have also been included as part of the dataset. Staff from the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety deployed, maintained and downloaded images and associated metadata from the trap cameras in March 2021. Using the images and associated metadata, the image catalogue was populated by Chornobyl Center staff with: species identified in image, number of animals visible in image, the number of triggering events (cumulative by camera) and any relevant notes; the image catalogue (MSExcel) and trap camera images (.jpeg) were subsequently supplied to UKCEH. Site descriptions and camera information were provided by Chornobyl Center staff and supplied to UKCEH by staff as MSExcel files; the same person from the Chornobyl Center recorded all descriptive parameters. The information provided includes: site field notes, habitat descriptions, camera location (latitude and longitude, WGS84), estimates of ambient dose rate (µSv h-1), camera deployment dates and the number of days each camera was deployed. The data and images were quality checked by a member of UKCEH staff and any queries were investigated and amended where necessary. This dataset contains data related to setup 2; for data related to setup 1 see: https://doi.org/10.5285/9bd7754d-ea87-4b35-bec1-f39d5cc76db6 Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a657ffc3-8f62-458f-bcb7-30e116807174

Data comprise a catalogue of motion activated digital trap camera images obtained from cameras located in the Red Forest, Chornobyl (Ukraine) over a period of a year (September 2016 - September 2017); images are included. In total 45,859 images were captured; of these 19,393 contained identifiable species or organism types, 565 recorded people, 349 were of species that could not be determined and 25,552 images recorded nothing. In addition there were 687 images of members of the research team setting up and servicing the cameras. All images, with the exception of those that recorded people or camera setup/service, are included as part of the dataset. Site characteristics and descriptions for each camera location are provided (e.g. site location, estimates of ambient dose rate, activity concentration of Cs-137 and Sr-90 in soil, Cs-137 and Sr-90 deposition, extent of fire damage, vegetation and forest cover and density and water proximity). The same person recorded all descriptive parameters. Information related to each cameras deployment is also provided; this includes camera deployment periods, number of days deployed and a summary of the images (e.g. number of images with mammals, birds or insects in, number of images with nothing in, number of images with people in) and the total number of triggering events recorded. Also provided are indicative weighted absorbed dose rates estimated using the ERICA Tool v2.0 https://erica-tool.com/ for a ‘large mammal’ and ‘red fox’. Species definitively captured on the motion activated digital trap cameras were:Brown hare, Eurasian elk, Eurasian lynx, European badger, Domesticated dog (feral), Grey wolf, Przewalski's horse, Raccoon dog, Red deer, Red fox, Red squirrel, Roe deer, Wild boar, Black grouse, Common blackbird, Common buzzard, Common wood pigeon, Eurasian bittern, Eurasian hoopoe, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian sparrowhawk, Eurasian woodcock, European nightjar, European robin, Fieldfare, Great egret, Great grey shrike, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Hazel grouse, Mistle thrush, Red backed shrike and Song thrush. Others identified to genus level include:Marten sp., Finch sp., Shrike sp., Thrush sp. There were also some mammal and bird species which were unidentifiable. Site descriptions, camera information, a summary of the contents of the image catalogue, summaries of mammals and birds by setup, site and camera and all the trap camera images have been provided as part of this dataset. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/bf82cec2-5f8a-407c-bf74-f8689ca35e83