Privacy & Cookie Policy

website graphic with BAS icons

Privacy Policy

British Antartcic Surveys’s website logs the user’s IP address which is automatically recognised by the web server.

In the interests of preventing abuse and the sending of SPAM, we monitor the use of the “Email to a Friend” facility and may record email addresses entered into the form. Under no circumstances will any email addresses be sold or transferred to a third party.

We will not collect any information about you except that required for conducting business with you, or system administration of the Web server. The information collected will not be sold or rented; nor will it be shared with third parties except where we are required by the Government to audit website usage data using an independent auditor (ABCe), and the information will be held securely by them. More information about why we measure and audit website traffic and the auditing process is available on the Central Office for Information website.

This privacy policy only covers the British Antarctic Survey’s public corporate website (pages at the web address www.bas.ac.uk and www.antarctica.ac.uk). Other links within this site to other websites are not covered by this policy.

Cookie Policy

This website puts small files, known as cookies, onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site.

There are two types of cookies:

  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality on the webpage, such as page navigation and access to secure areas. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and they can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
  • Analytical cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. You can disable these without effecting how the website operates.

These cookies are not used to identify you personally. You are prompted on your first visit to the site to accept either ‘all cookies’ or ‘necessary cookies only.’ Should you wish to change your preference, you can do so at any time by clicking the ‘Change cookie options’ button on this page to make another choice. This banner will re-ask for your preference after about 6 months. Find out more about how to manage cookies at www.aboutcookies.org

How this website uses cookies

Necessary Cookies

Name Purpose Expires
bas_cookie_consent Store the cookie option settings 1 year

Analytical Cookies

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how you use this website. We do this to make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements. These are ‘analytical cookies’, which you can opt out of (as described above.) More information about Google Analytics can be found here.

Google Analytics stores information about:

  • the pages you visit on this website
  • how long you spend on each page in this website
  • how you came to this site (e.g. from a search engine or the main BAS website)
  • what you click on while you are visiting the site (for example, whether you click links from the main navigation or within pages)

No personal information is collected or sent to this service (such as your name or email address).

We opt-out of any optional programmes to link your data with other products (except those we control) including benchmarking and optimisation. We use also IP address anonymisation to prevent your full IP address being stored. Please see here for more information.

Google Analytics (gtag.js) sets the following cookies:

Name Purpose Expires
_ga Used to distinguish each visitor and whether they have visited this website before 2 years
_ga_XXXXXXXXXX Use to store and count pageviews 1 year

Contact Us

If you have a question about or issue with how the BAS website uses cookies, please contact BAS at complaints@bas.ac.uk

Updates to this Policy

Policy dated: 24/02/2026

We may update this privacy policy from time to time, so it is important you check back regularly to see any changes made.