Data were collected under the NERC funded project - Fennec -The Saharan Climate System. The project was lead by the University of Oxford and involved the Universities of Leeds, Reading, Sussex and the UK Met Office. Fennec investigated the Saharan climate system and the role of dust aerosols, involving a unique surface and aircraft field campaign with the FAAM BAe-146. Various meteorological variables were collected at 3 min 20 second intervals, between 2011 and 2013 at 8 Automatic Weather Stations. Parameters include: 1m pressure, 3 min 20 sec mean 2m windspeed (sonic and cup anemometers), number of windspeeds sampled, variance of windspeed in sample, skew of windspeed in sample, 2m relative humidity, 2 temperature, soil temperature (2 depths), ground flux, shortwave radiation up and down, longwave radiation up and down. Specific station locations are stated both in the data files and the CEDA platform record. One station had to be moved after the first year, hence there are 9 station locations listed. Due to harsh environmental conditions a number of the AWS stopped operating after deployment. Additional information regarding instrument issues and missing data can be found in a PDF on the CEDA archive.

Soil temperature measurements taken at various sites on Signy Island during the 2008-2009 field season. These measurements were used as part of an investigation to understand the effect of temperature and moisture on the availability of different nitrogen forms.

Soil temperature was monitored at 5 soil sampling times and ambient air temperature was monitored at each site throughout the field season. The sampling sites were: Bare soil at higher elevations, namely Observation Bluff, Factory Bluffs, Jane Col and lower parts of Spindrift Col; Soils from below mosses on the Backslope and on Moss Braes. Soils from below higher plant species at Bernsten Point, Factory Bluffs, Moss Braes and North Point. Orthinogenic soils from around penguin colonies at Gourlay Peninsula, Spindrift Rocks and North Point and disturbed soil from around Signy Base.

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.