We report continuous observations in the high Arctic (north of 84°N) over the full 2013 summer season at two nearby sites with distinct initial snow depth, ice thickness and altitude with respect to the local ice topography. The two sites subject to similar atmospheric conditions that did not favor strong ice melt showed a contrasted evolution. One site, with an initial thin sea ice (1.40 m) at a low location of the floe, witnessed the formation of a spectacular 1.20 m-deep melt pond, a pond-enhanced erosion of the ice surface and a sudden pond drainage into the ocean. Then, the outpoured fresh water rapidly froze, heated the old ice from below and also acted as a temporary shield from the ocean heat flux while it was progressively ablated through dissolution. Eventually, the site almost recovered its initial ice thickness. In contrast, the other site, with an initial thicker sea ice (1.75 m) at a high location of the floe, did not support any significant melt water and underwent over 0.5 m of continuous basal ablation. The two sites witnessed formation of superimposed and interposed ice. Sea-ice survived summer melt at the two sites which entered the refreezing season with similar snow and ice thicknesses. For the first time, processes associated with the formation of a deep melt pond and subsequent false bottom evolution are continuously documented with ice mass balance instruments.  Important Note: This submission has been initially submitted to SEA scieNtific Open data Edition (SEANOE) publication service and received the recorded DOI. The metadata elements have been further processed (refined) in EMODnet Ingestion Service in order to conform with the Data Submission Service specifications.

In April 2017, two Ice Atmosphere Arctic Ocean Observing System platforms (IAOOS 23 and IAOOS 24) were deployed near the North Pole. Over the next 8 months, they meandered southwards with the ice in the Transpolar Drift, collecting measurements in the upper 250 m of Amundsen Basin, Nansen Basin and Fram Strait. The ocean profilers are PROVOR SPI (from French manufacturer NKE), which includes a Seabird SBE41 CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) and a dissolved oxygen (DO) Aandera 4330 optode. IAOOS 23 also featured a bio-optics sensor suite and a submersible ultraviolet nitrate analyzer (SUNA, Satlantic-Seabird Inc.). The bio-optics sensor suite (called Pack Rem A) combines a three-optical-sensor instrument (ECO Triplet, WET Labs Inc.) and a multispectral radiometer (OCR-504, Satlantic Inc.). The present dataset is composed of chlorophyll-a fluorescence, backscatter, irradiances (at 412, 490 and 555 nm), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), nitrate and colored-dissolved organic matter data from the IAOOS 23 platform, as well as composites of absolute salinity, conservative temperature and apparent oxygen utilization data from both profilers. The profilers were set to perform two upward profiles a day from 250 m starting at approximately 6 am and 6 pm. In this dataset, chlorophyll-a, PAR and irradiances were corrected with a shift to set dark values to zero. Nitrate was interpolated vertically every 5 m, and all other parameters were interpolated vertically every 0.5 m. Important Note: This submission has been initially submitted to SEA scieNtific Open data Edition (SEANOE) publication service and received the recorded DOI. The metadata elements have been further processed (refined) in EMODnet Ingestion Service in order to conform with the Data Submission Service specifications.