DC Electrical: In order to relate the fluid permeability to the electrical properties of sea ice, we also took measurements of the vertical component of the DC electrical conductivity tensor of sea ice. Cores extending to the bottom of an ice floe were taken and laid out holder. With the exception of sites 7 and 8 where we encountered a slush layer below the hard ice and could not core down to the ocean. The core bottom was determined at sites 7 and 8 to be the ice slush interface. Immediately upon extraction, holes that fit our thermistor probes were drilled every ten centimetres and a temperature profile was taken. Subsequently, slightly larger holes were drilled which fit our electrical probes (stainless steel nails). An AEMC Earth Resistivity Meter was then used to measure the resistance over 10 cm sections of the core (usually offset by 5 cm so that the measured temperature was in the centre of the section where electrical resistance was measured). The cores used in resistance measurements were taken very close to where the crystallographic cores were taken. In almost all cases the cores extracted for electrical measurements were also used for crystallographic analysis, so that there was an exact match of electrical properties with crystal structure. In such cases the DC electrical cores were then moved to a -20 degree C cold room for further processing immediately after measurements in the field. A thin vertical section, approximately 3mm thick, was taken from each of the cores stored for analysis. These sections were placed between a pair of cross polarized plates and photographed. Each photo was labelled with the core and date it was taken, and was photographed with a meter stick alongside for scale. After the thin sections were photographed, the remaining samples were melted to measure salinity. Some of the melted sea ice was saved for later O18 analysis to distinguish samples containing snow ice from those containing marine granular ice. The temperature and salinities we are then used to calculate brine volume fractions along the 10 cm sections of the core. The DC conductivity data collected can be found in the Electrical tab of the Master_Core_List.xls Excel file. The raw data can be found in the scans of our field note books located in the folder named notebooks. In the spread sheet the measured resistances of the 10 cm sections, temperatures, salinities and corresponding brine volume fractions are listed per core. For each core the supporting crystallography core number can be found in the crystallography column of the spread sheet. The photos of the crystallography cores can be found in the crystallography folder, separated into subfolders labelled with the site and core number, Each photo also contains a tag indicating the core number , site taken , date, and what depth range this covers. Tags may not contain a depth range for cores less than 1 meter. Please see the meter stick in each photo for scale.

This data set was collected from a ocean acidification minicosm experiment performed at Davis Station, Antarctica during the 2014/15 summer season. It includes: - description of methods for all data collection and analyses. - environmental data logged throughout the experiment; nutrients, temperature, light climate. - carbonate chemistry data; pH (on Total scale), fugacity of CO2, dissolved inorganic carbon concentration, practical alkalinity, Omega calculations for both araganite and calcite. - product datasheet (including transmission spectra) of Osram 150W HQI-TS/NDL metal halide lamps.

A times series of data was collected from coastal (land-fast) sea ice at Davis Station, Eastern Antarctica (68 degrees 34' 36" S, 77 degrees 58' 03" E; Figure 1) from November 16 to December 2, 2015. Sea ice temperature and salinity, as well as macro-nutrients (nitrate NO3-, nitrite NO2-, ammonium NH4+, phosphate PO43- and DSi), particulate organic carbon (POC) and chlorophyll a (Chla) in the sea ice were measured six times in 16 days of austral spring and early summer (Nov. 16, Nov. 20, Nov. 23, Nov. 26, Nov. 29, and Dec. 2; in days of the year, 320, 325, 327, 330, 333, and 336). Depths were measured from the top of the ice cores. Seawater below the ice was also sampled for comparison. Samples of snow, sea ice, brine and under-ice seawater were collected under trace metal clean conditions near Davis station during the transition of sea ice from winter to spring conditions (October 2015), on a regular basis (every 4 days) for 3 weeks. 6 sampling events were successfully achieved. The list of parameters collected during the fast ice study include in situ temperature, ice texture, pH, oxygen, iron and Chla, Br/I, carbonate, nutrients and POC, incubations with stable N and C isotopes. Samples are currently returning on V3 and will be analysed in the US, Belgium and Australia in the coming months. The biogeochemical observations will allow us to determine the roles of light versus iron in the initiation of the spring bloom in this region, and the role of the melting fast ice in fertilising the spring time primary production.

More than 50 scientists from eight countries conducted the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment 2012 (SIPEX-2). The 2012 voyage built on information and observations collected in 2007, by re-visiting the study area at about 100-120 degrees East. This was the culmination of years of preparation for the Australian Antarctic Division and, more specifically, the ACE CRC sea-ice group who lead this international, multi-disciplinary, sea ice voyage to East Antarctica. Work began at the sea-ice edge and penetrated the pack ice towards the coastal land-fast ice. The purpose of SIPEX-2 was to investigate relationships between the physical sea-ice environment, marine biogeochemistry and the structure of Southern Ocean ecosystems. While the scientists and crew did not set foot on Antarctic terra firma, a number of multi-day research stations were set up on suitable sea ice floes, and a range of novel and state-of-the-art instruments were used. These included: A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to observe and film (with an on-board video camera) krill, and to quantify the distribution and amount of sea ice algae associated with ice floes. An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to study the three-dimensional under-ice topography of ice floes. Helicopter-borne instruments to measure snow and ice thickness, floe size and sea ice type. Instruments included a scanning laser altimeter, infrared radiometer, microwave radiometer, camera and GPS. Sea ice accelerometer buoys to measure sea ice wave interaction and its effect on floe-size distribution. Customised pumping systems and light-traps to catch krill from below the ice and on the sea floor. Available at the provided URL in this record, is a link to a file containing the locations of all ice stations from this voyage.

Antarctic sediments and sea-ice are important regulators in global biogeochemical and atmospheric cycles. These ecosystems contain a diverse range of bacteria whose biogeochemical roles remains largely unknown and which inhabit what are continually low temperature habitats. An integrated molecular and chemical approach will be used to investigate the coupling of microbial biogeochemical processes with community structure and cold adaptation within coastal Antarctic marine sediments and within sea-ice. Overall the project expects to make an important contribution to our understanding of biological processes within low temperature habitats. DATA SET ORGANISATION: The dataset is organised on the basis of publication and is organised on the basis of the following sections: 1. SEDIMENT SAMPLES and ISOLATES Samples collected are described in terms of location, type and where data were obtained chemical features. The designation, source, media used for cultivation and isolation and availability of sediment and other related isolates are provided. Samples included are from the following locations: Clear Lake, Pendant Lake, Scale Lake, Ace Lake, Burton Lake, Ekho Lake, Organic Lake, Deep lake and Taynaya Bay (Burke Basin), Vestfold Hills region; and the Mertz Glacier Polynya region. 2. BIOMASS and ENZYME ACTIVITY DATA Biomass, numbers and extracellular enzyme activity data are provided for Bacteria and Archaea populations from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. 3. FATTY ACID and TETRAETHER LIPID DATA Phospholipid and tetraether lipid data are provided for Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediments. Whole cell fatty acid data are provided for various bacterial isolates described officially as new genera or species. 4. RNA HYBRIDISATION DATA RNA hybridisation data for Mertz Glacier Polynya sediment samples is provided, including data for oligonucleotide probes specifc for total Bacteria, Archaea, the Desulfosarcina group (class Deltaproteobacteria, sulfate reducing bacterial clade), phylum Planctomycetes, phylum Bacteroidetes (Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides), class Gammaproteobacteria, sulfur-oxidizing and related bacteria (a subset of class Gammaproteobacteria) and Eukaryota. 5. PHYLOGENETIC DATA 16S rRNA gene sequence data are indicated including aligned datasets for three clone libraries derived from the Mertz Glacier Polynya including GenBank accession numbers. Sequence accession numbers are provided for Vestfold Hills lake sediment samples. In addition GenBank numbers are provided for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis band sequence data from Mertz Glacier Polynya shelf sediment. Other forms of this DGGE data (banding profile analysis) are available in reference Bowman et al. 2003 (AAD ref 10971).