Abstract: An analysis is conducted based on collection of polar science projects supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China from 1998 to 2014, then discusses the number of projects in every year, the types of projects, discipline and diversity variation, affiliations and so on, combined with papers on polar science including domestic and oversea. On the basis of the analysis, the study concludes that the fund promotes the development of human resource and the ability of scientific research on polar sicence, at the same time it is very important to pay attention to increase funding and grantees, energizing the international cooperation and exchange.

Key words: polar science, NSFC, funding distribution