This dataset contains Autosub3 measurements (position, ice draft, sea bed depth, water temperature, salinity, depth and pressure) collected under the frame of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Ice Sheet Stability Programme. The data were collected in the Amundsen Sea region of the Antarctic, more specifically in the Pine Island Glacier, during a series of missions from RRS James Clark Ross in February 2014. Radar measurements provided information about the bottom of the glacier, which then allowed for the definition of Autosub3 tracks for the different missions. Autosub3 was equipped with a CTD, oxygen sensor, transmissometer, GPS and ADCP. The Autosub missions were conducted as part of the ‘Ocean under ice: Ocean circulation and melting beneath the ice shelves of the south-eastern Amundsen Sea (iSTAR B)’ Project. This was one of four projects delivering the NERC Ice Sheet Stability Programme, aiming to better understand the physical processes governing the rate of ice melt in the West Antarctic ice sheet. The principal investigator for iSTAR B was Dr Adrian Jenkins from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

This dataset comprises of physical oceanographic parameter measurements and meteorological data collected as part of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) South Orkney Ecosystem Studies project from RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR15004. Data were collected surrounding the South Orkney Islands within the Scotia Sea, and coverage was between 19/01/2016 until 21/02/2016. This dataset contains downcast Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) profiles from 45 stations, and measurements of underway navigation, meteorology and sea surface hydrography through the ship's underway system. Measurements include water temperature, conductivity, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), transmittance, fluorescence and oxygen concentrations, as well as air temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, total incidence radiation (TIR), wind speed and direction. The data collected during the cruise were used to examine the factors that determine the distribution of krill and other pelagic organisms across a range of time and space scales. All data were collected by originators at the British Antarctic Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway.

This dataset includes two cruises of data collected to investigate Arctic hydrate dissociation as a consequence of climate change and to determine vulnerable methane reservoir and gas escape mechanisms. Work during both JR269A and JR269B was focused on two separate geographical areas. The first of these was west of Prins Karls Forland, in water depths of between 150 and 1200 m. At its landward end, this survey area crosses a region at water depths up to 400 m where a dense concentration of methane escape bubble plumes occur. The second survey area straddles the summit of the Vestnesa Ridge, in water depths of 1180 to 1400 m, and is also the site of methane escape bubble plumes within the water column and of fluid escape chimneys and pockmarks previously imaged at and beneath the sea bed. This area lies approximately 100 km west of the mouth of Kongsfjorden. Data collection took place between August 2011 and July 2012. The research expedition used a deep-towed, very high resolution seismic system to image the small-scale structures that convey gas to the seabed and to detect the presence of gas in the sediments. This was done in conjunction with an electromagnetic exploration system that uses a deep-towed transmitter and receivers on the seabed to derive the variations in electrical resistivity in the sediments beneath the seabed. The observations carried out on the two cruises included; underway, meteorological observations and echo sounder data, multichannel seismic reflection profiling data, wide angle seismic survey data, and ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data, ocean bottom electro-magnetometer data and controlled source electromagnetic surveys (CSEM). The overall objectives of the project were to determine the spatial distribution of gas and hydrate accumulations beneath the sea bed; to investigate and understand gas transport and escape mechanisms, their spatial distribution, and the controls on these; and to quantify gas and hydrate saturation values in situ within the pore spaces of the shallow sediment reservoirs. The research is focused on specific areas where significant accumulations of methane hydrate and active methane venting through the sea floor were observed and documented during the earlier JR211 cruise in 2008. This is a NERC funded project hosted by University of Southampton. The data held at BODC include multichannel seismic reflection, TOPAS sub-bottom profiler and 2D seismic reflection data in SEG-Y format. No further data are expected.