Visual Antarctic sea ice condition observations during Austral summers 2012-2016

Due to Antarctica's remoteness, sea ice condition observations and measurements on board ships are rare. However, ship based annual expeditions are conducted from Cape Town to Antarctica within the South African National Antarctic Program. The S.A. Agulhas II replaced the S.A. Agulhas in 2012 and departed Cape Town on December 2012 for her maiden voyage to Antarctica. Intensive sea ice observations have been performed since by researchers during annual relief voyages from December to February. In this paper, we present the visual observations on board the S.A. Agulhas II from the annual expeditions of four austral summers 2012 to 2016. The sea ice condition observations include ice thickness, concentration, and floe size. The changes in these parameters are studied between different years and during the voyages. The observations show that the thickness, concentration and floe size increase when moving from north towards south. Visual Antarctic Sea Ice Condition Observations during Austral Summers.Peer reviewe