NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility

​Our School hosts the NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility, which loans equipment suitable for geophysical research free of charge to universities and other institutes engaged in environmental research.

The NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility (GEF) forms part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Scientific support and facilities portfolio.  

We support high-quality, peer reviewed projects across a broad spectrum of Earth and environmental sciences by providing internationally-recognised, state-of-the-art geophysical instrumentation for marine and land-based field experiments.

 

The facility operates as three nodes:

1. GEF (Edinburgh)

Our Edinburgh GEF is located within the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh and forms the central administrative node.  

It specialises in support for geophysics fieldwork by supplying Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Geomagnetic survey equipment, and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) systems.

2. GEF (Leicester) SEIS-UK is located within the Department of Geology at Leicester University and specialises in support for Seismology.
3. OBIF (Ocean Bottom Instrument Facility) OBIF is located within Durham and Southampton Universities and specialises in seabed multi-sensor geophysical instrumentation.

Instruments

The NERC GEF maintains a pool of state-of-the-art geophysical equipment for loan to UK based researchers.

We have a range of surveying equipment suitable for land-based research projects and  marine projects. 

Access to facility resources

Our facility loans equipment suitable for geophysical research free of charge to UK universities and other institutes engaged in environmental research within the NERC remit.

Our instruments are extensively used by both experienced fieldworkers and novice PhD students to gather valuable geophysical data.

NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility website

We encourage you to visit our NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility website for more details, including:

  • equipment catalogue
  • loan information and application details
  • scientific reports and publications

NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility website

Follow us on Twitter @NERCgef

 

Contact and location

Location

The NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility is located in the Grant Institute, School of GeoSciences at the King's Buildings campus, University of Edinburgh. 

Campus maps and travel information

Contact

For more information or to access our facility resources, we encourage you to visit our NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility website for more details.

NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility website

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or require any further information not available on our Facility website.

NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility (GEF)

Address: Room 246, Grant Institute, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, James Hutton Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FE