Our Centers: Byrd Polar

Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC)

The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) at The Ohio State University is recognized internationally as a leader in polar, alpine and climate research. There are ten research groups at BPCRC, along with a library, archival program, the Polar Rock Repository, and a team of support staff. Research of the center is conducted throughout the world and focuses on the role of cold regions in the Earth’s overall climate system, and encompasses geological sciences, geochemistry, glaciology, paleoclimatology, meteorology, remote sensing, ocean dynamics and the history of polar exploration. The center has a number of collections of climate proxies, including a rock repository containing 42,000 samples from the polar regions, a sediment core storage facility containing Arctic Ocean cores and lake sediment cores from the mountains of Peru and China, and more than 7 kilometers of ice cores gathered during more than 60 campaigns to six continents.

and lectures on a frequent basis, maintains a public education and outreach program, and contributes to the mission of the State Climate Office of Ohio. The center is named in honor of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, America’s most famous polar explorer. Information about events, tours and publications can be found at bpcrc.osu.edu.

In addition, BPCRC maintains the Byrd Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, provides research opportunities and support for a number of graduate and undergraduate students, offers seminars