Data are the MSLP (Mean Sea Level Pressure) field of the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) (http://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/rt/amps/) available to download via www.earthsystemgrid.org. Data are 45km resolution for the domain d001 (lower left lat/lon = -24.72209 N, 38.30463 E, upper right lat/lon = -21.82868 N, -144.07805 E). Data are 3-hourly forecasts (t=0 to t=120) made every 12 hours using the Polar Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Data has been converted from grib to nc, 45km resolution polar stereographic to a 0.5 degree resolution latlon grid and concatenated into a single continuous dataset using the first 4 forecasts from each 12-hours. Where data was missing forecasts from the previous 12-hours are used. Data available: 28/10/2008 to 31/12/2012. Data were processed in this manner to be usable by the Melbourne University cyclone tracking scheme (Murray, R. J., and I. Simmonds (1991) A numerical scheme for tracking cyclone centres from digital data. Part I: Development and operation of the scheme, Australian Meteorological Magazine, 39, 155-166.) to investigate Antarctic polar lows. Data are 3-hourly forecasts (from t=0 to t=120) made every 12 hours, which have been processed into a continuous 3-hourly dataset using the first 4 forecasts of every 12 hours. Missing data are filled by previous forecasts.

Ice Stations 1-4 Two Davis weather stations are placed either side of a sea-ice ridge. The closest station to the ship is called 'unit 1', and the further station is 'unit 2'. Each weather station includes an anemometer at 2m, temperature/humidity sensor at 1.6m and solar sensor at 1m. Ice Station 6-8 For the last three stations we assembled the two weather stations onto one mast. This is so we can look at wind profiles and hopefully gain some understanding of wind shear and drag on the ice. Anemometers were set 1m apart at 1m and 2m heights. Temperature/humidity sensors were also set 1m apart. Only one solar sensor was used, at the same height as previous deployments. Additional data information : metadata record 201213001 For convenience, and easy loading of the data into any data processing software, the .csv where pre-processed and variables where stored into new ascii files without extensions. Each ascii file corresponds to a given station and a given mast unit. There are 20 columns, separated by tabs. Content of the files: Column 1 : Day of year [] Column 2 to 7 : Date [YYYY MM DD hh mm ss] Column 8 : Barometric Pressure [hPa] Column 9 : Outside Temperature [C] Column 10 : High Outside Temperature [C] Column 11 : Low Outside Temperature [C] Column 12 : Outside Humidity [%] Column 13 : Dew Point [C] Column 14 : Wind Speed [m/s] Column 15 : High Wind Speed [m/s] Column 16 : Low Wind Speed [m/s] Column 17 : High Wind Direction [degrees with respect to North, e.g. East = 90, South = 180, etc...] Column 18 : Dominant Wind Direction [degrees with respect to North, e.g. East = 90, South = 180, etc...] Column 19 : Solar Radiation [W/m^2] Column 20 : High Solar Radiation [W/m^2] List of raw data files (.csv files): 20120925_IceStation1_Met1.csv 20120925_IceStation1_Met2.csv 20120928_IceStation2_Met1_full.csv 20120928_IceStation2_Met2_full_v2.csv 20121008_IceStation4_Met1.csv 20121008_IceStation4_Met2.csv 20121014_IceStation6_Met1_v2.csv 20121014_IceStation6_Met2.csv 20121019_IceStation7_Met1.csv 20121019_IceStation7_Met2.csv 20121104_station8_Met1_full.csv 20121104_station8_Met2_full.csv List of pre-processed data files (ascii files): 20120925_IceStation1_Met1 20120925_IceStation1_Met2 20120928_IceStation2_Met1_full 20120928_IceStation2_Met2_full_v2 20121008_IceStation4_Met1 20121008_IceStation4_Met2 20121014_IceStation6_Met1_v2 20121014_IceStation6_Met2 20121019_IceStation7_Met1 20121019_IceStation7_Met2 20121104_station8_Met1_full 20121104_station8_Met2_full