The Polar Soil Archive was born in middle of hurricane force winds in Eastern Antarctica. Dr. Ian Snape of the Antarctic Division and I had spent all day sampling soils during this storm. Later that night over tea, we both thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if previous polar scientists had kept some of their samples?” Then we could answer some of the key climate change and pollutant questions of our generation. Thus, the Polar Soil Archive was born.

The Polar Soil Archive is an archival system housed at the University of Saskatchewan and the Australian Antarctic Division. It consists of approximately 70 g of soil samples, stored at -80C and tracked using a special database management system of the Australian Antarctic Division. The archive is open to all researchers across the world with the caveat that in order for researchers to receive a soil sample, they must contribute a soil sample. Currently there are over 600 soil samples from the Arctic and Antarctica in this archive.

If you are interested in adding to this archive or wish to know how to access this archive, contact Steven Siciliano.