UK Polar Data Centre team

The UK Polar Data Centre (UK PDC) is the focal point for Arctic and Antarctic environmental data management in the UK. Part of the Natural Environmental Research Council’s (NERC) Environmental Data Service and based at the British Antarctic Survey, we coordinate the preservation and management of polar data from UK-funded research and support researchers in complying with national and international data legislation and policy.

Our skills and experience reflect the broad and multi-disciplinary nature of polar research that produces data from all the Earth’s spheres. We provide guidance on best practice throughout the data management life cycle from data planning to developing tools for data discovery and access. We also provide operational data services, supporting data capture and transfer systems on UK polar stations, ships and aircraft. BAS ships and aircraft undertake some scientific research outside of polar and other ice-covered regions, therefore we also hold data from other areas within the British Antarctic Survey’s operational footprint.

Our main goal is to ensure that environmental data collected in the polar and cryospheric regions are made available and accessible to all in order to fully realise their reuse potential. This aim is in accordance with the NERC data policy and, for the Antarctic, upholds Article III 1(c) of the Antarctic Treaty. Whilst making data open, we also work to ensure that the original data collectors are properly acknowledged when data are reused through the creation of dataset citations.

As a data centre based primarily on geographical extent rather than scientific discipline we work closely with data scientists at the other NERC data centres and cooperate in many of our data management activities. The UK PDC represents the UK internationally on polar data issues through the SCAR Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management and the IASC sponsored Arctic Data Committee.

tdba

Timothy Barnes

Data Manager

pbree

Paul Breen

Data Manager

kabuck

Katy Buckland

Scientific Data Coordinator

pjki

Peter Kirsch

Data Manager

hjpe

Helen Peat

Head of Polar Data Centre

beatrix

Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley

Director of Innovations and Impact

ajtate

Alexander Tate

Senior Data and Systems Architect

peopen

Petra Ten Hoopen

Marine Data Manager

martel

Mari Whitelaw

Scientific Data Manager (Biological Focus)

allber

Alysa Fisher

Information Officer

almand

Alice Fremand

Scientific Data Manager, Geophysics

sartho

Sarah Manthorpe

Scientific Data Manager

lustep

Lucy Stephenson

Scientific Data Coordinator

mcrosier

Mike Crosier

Scientific Software Developer

jamcas

James Lucas

Scientific Data Assistant

clopez

Claudette Lopez

- Marine Geospatial Data Assistant

Marine Metadata Project

The Marine Metadata Project aims to enhance the availability and accessibility of BAS marine data.


Atmospheric Data Access System

An online data access tool to discover, visualise and access atmospheric and space weather data holdings from the polar regions.


Herbarium Collection

A collection of dried plant specimens from the Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and surrounding continents.

Geological Collection

Contains over 200,000 individual rock and fossil specimens collected from Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands and thousands of meters of sediment core from the surrounding seabed.

Bedmap

Bedmap is a collaborative community project with the aim to produce a new map and datasets of Antarctic ice thickness and bed topography for the international glaciology and geophysical community, …

60 years of Antarctic ice sheet data released

17 July, 2023

In a significant milestone for Antarctic research, detailed and extensive information on ice thickness and bed topography is now available for the first time in a centralised and standardised format. …


NEWS STORY: Sea ice minimum explained

18 September, 2014

Arctic sea ice summer minimum 2014: A scientific perspective The Arctic sea ice minimum marks the day – typically in September – when sea ice reaches its smallest extent at …



Thirty years of marine debris in the Southern Ocean: annual surveys of two island shores in the Scotia Sea

1 March, 2020 by Claire Waluda, Iain Staniland, Kevin Hughes, Mari Whitelaw, Michael Dunn, Sally Thorpe

We report on three decades of repeat surveys of beached marine debris at two locations in the Scotia Sea, in the Southwest Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Between October…

Read more on Thirty years of marine debris in the Southern Ocean: annual surveys of two island shores in the Scotia Sea