AIDJEX: 1972 Arctic Ice Camp Photographs

Early 1970s photographs document a pilot study for the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment (AIDJEX). The collection contains 83 JPEG images, primarily from 1972, showing a main camp and two satellite camps on drifting sea ice in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, forming a triangle with 100 km sides. Captions for 60 images are provided in an Excel file, and at least four aerial photographs depict the drifting ice station T-3 from 1974.

Use Cases

• Visual documentation of 1970s sea ice camps and field logistics based on the photographic content.
• Historical analysis of the AIDJEX pilot study's setup and instrumentation based on image captions.
• Comparison of sea ice conditions and camp structures from the early 1970s to present day.
• Contextual reference for digitizing and preserving analog scientific records based on the scanning process described.

Strengths

• Contains 83 scanned historical photographs with direct relevance to a major scientific experiment.
• 60 images include descriptive captions sourced from original print annotations.
• Provides specific temporal (1972-1974) and geographic (Beaufort Sea) context.

Limitations

• Metadata conflict: one source lists a last updated date in 2026, while another lists 1972, creating uncertainty about curation activity.
• Not all photographs are from the AIDJEX experiment; at least four are unrelated aerial shots of T-3.
• Column names and a precise row count for the accompanying metadata file are not provided.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL); photographers Tom Marlar and Pat Martin.

Collection Method

Photographs existed as 8” x 10” prints in the NSIDC analog collection and were scanned around 2007 under archivist direction.

Time Range

1972 to 1974

Freshness

2026-03-13 10:37:27.616535

Geography

Beaufort Sea north of Alaska; drifting ice station T-3.