Ice and snow pit measurements observed during the SIPEX II voyage of the Aurora Australis, 2012

This dataset contains routine measurements of snow and ice thickness, and snow-ice interface temperature, at 1m intervals along standard transects; snow property characterisation in snow pits measured at 0m, 50m and 100m along the transects; and sea ice cores acquired at various locations both along the transects and elsewhere on ice station floes during the 2012 SIPEX 2 marine science voyage.

Ice temperature information is acquired from the cores, which are taken on-board for further analysis. The latter includes thin-section analysis of sea-ice stratigraphy and crystallography at -20C within the freezer lab on-board the ship. The cores are then cut up into 5cm sections and melted for analysis of salinity and stable oxygen isotopes.

Observation items: Snow:

• Thickness
• Temperature profile (every 3 cm)
• Snow-ice interface temperature at 1m intervals along the 100m transects
• Grain size
• Grain shape
• Density
• Hardness
• Salinity
• Stable oxygen isotope Ice:
• Thickness
• Freeboard
• Draft
• Temperature
• Salinity
• Stable oxygen isotope
• Crystallography and texture
• Density

Instruments:

Snow: Folding scales, Spatula, Thermometer, Snow sampler, Magnifying glass, Salinometer, Temperature and thickness probes, scales

Ice: Drills, corers, ice-thickness tape measures, thermometer, salinometer, band-saw, cross-polarising filter, scales

The data are recorded in log books (scanned copies are included in this dataset) and have been transferred into the standard AAD sea-ice database templates (in excel format) for each station.