Antarctic sea ice properties on zero meridian side during Austral summers 2012-14 and 2018-19

Polar Supply and Research Vessel S.A. Agulhas II has visited Antarctic continent annually since her maiden voyage 2012. Commonly, the voyage duration is from December to Februaryor March. Aalto University and Stellenbosch University have been conducting ship and ice conditions related measurements with varying focus since the maiden voyage. The mechanical properties of sea ice (flexuraland compressive strength) have been measured during voyages 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 while the focus in voyage 2018-19 was in physical properties, i.e. the salinity, density, temperature, and grain sizeof ice.This paper presents themethods and results of these measurementsto contribute to therelatively rare dataset of Antarctic sea ice properties. The mean flexural strength was around 280 kPa. The measured compressive strength of sea ice varied from 100 kPa to 3.0 MPa in the vertical direction, and from 100 kPa to 1.5 MPain the horizontal direction, the averages being 740 kPa and 560 kPa, respectively. The shelf ice compressive strength varied generally from 100 kPa to 400 kPa with an average of 160 kPa.The measured ice temperature generally varies from air temperature on the top to -1.8°C in the bottom. Ice salinity varies from around 1‰ to 8‰ and ice density is in the range from 830to 940kg/m3.