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.

This dataset contains observations of ice conditions taken from the bridge of the RV Aurora Australis during SIPEX 2012, following the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research/CliC Antarctic Sea Ice Processes and Climate [ASPeCt] protocols. See aspect.antarctica.gov.au Observations include total and partial concentration, ice type, thickness, floe size, topography, and snow cover in each of three primary ice categories; open water characteristics, and weather summary. The dataset is comprised of the scanned pages of a single logbook, which holds hourly observations taken by observers while the ship was moving through sea-ice zone. The following persons assisted in the collection of these data: Dr R. Massom, AAD, Member of observation team Mr A. Steer, AAD, Member of observation team Prof S. Warren, UW(Seattle), USA, Member of observation team Dr J. Hutchings, IARC, UAF, USA, Member of observation team Dr T. Toyota, Inst Low Temp Science, Japan, Member of observation team Dr T. Tamura, NIPR, Japan, Member of EM observation team Dr G. Dieckmann, AWI, Germany, Member of observation team Dr E. Maksym, WHOI, USA, Member of observation team Mr R. Stevens, IMAS, Trainee on observation team Dr J. Melbourne-Thomas, ACE CRC, Trainee on observation team Dr A. Giles, ACE CRC, Trainee on observation team Ms M. Zhia, IMAS, Trainee on observation team Ms J. Jansens, IMAS, Trainee on observation team Mr R. Humphries, Univ Wollengong, Trainee on observation team Mr C. Sampson, Univ Utah, USA, Trainee on observation team Mr Olivier Lecomte, Univ Catholique, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, Trainee on observation team Mr D. Lubbers, Univ Utah, USA, Trainee on observation team Ms M. Zatko, UW(Seattle), USA, Trainee on observation team Ms C. Gionfriddo, Uni Melbourne, Trainee on observation team Mr K. Nakata, EES, Japan, Trainee on observation team

Data from ASAC project 3030. Public summary for the project: This project will measure the sea ice thickness off East Antarctica, over spatial scales up to hundreds of kilometers. Sea ice is a likely sensitive indicator of climate variations and change. No large scale sea ice thickness measurements exist in the Antarctic. An estimation of trends of change in Antarctic sea ice thickness and volume is therefore not currently possible. To address this deficiency and to provide an independent data set for the validation of models and the calibration of remote-sensing data, we will conduct high accuracy air borne laser scanner measurements in the sea ice zone off East Antarctica. More information about the project can be found in lidar.pdf (which is available with the data).