In cooperation with multiple institutes, the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU) at Utrecht University has operated automated weather stations at 19 locations on the Antarctic ice sheet between 1995 and 2022. Besides standard meteorological measurements (pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed & direction), these stations include measured shortwave and longwave radiation components and surface height, thereby allowing for the reliable in situ quantification of the surface energy balance (SEB) and surface mass balance (SMB) at (two-)hourly temporal resolution. This unique dataset can be used for climate model evaluation and development, for the validation of remote sensing products, for the quantification of long term climatological changes, for the interpretation of ice cores, and for process understanding in general. The data are corrected for typical errors, including the heating of the unventilated thermometers, the window heating of the pyrgeometers, the longwave emission of air between the pyrgeometers and the surface, the zero-bias and tilt of the pyranometers, and the relative humidity with respect to ice. Suspicious data, such as possibly rimed samples, relative humidity exceeding 100%, or incoming shortwave radiation exceeding Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA) radiation are flagged but not removed from the dataset. Non-flagged samples are also provided as calculated to standard heights above the surface, i.e. 2m for the temperature and humidity and 10m for the wind speed, using similarity theory and the variable height of the sensors. The total dataset contains 152 station-years of quality-controlled data, of which 78% include non-flagged observations of all four components of net surface radiation. About half (56%) of the dataset contains simultaneous non-flagged observations of all meteorological parameters, net radiation and surface height change.

The authors thank all the persons involved in the transport, installation, servicing and dismantling of the weather stations. The technical staff of the IMAU is acknowledged for the design of the weather stations. The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is acknowledged for the support regarding the weather stations at Kohnen Base (AWS9), on Berkner Island (AWS10) and on the Halvfarryggen ice rise (AWS11). The installations of weather stations on Plateau station B (AWS12), and the Pole of inaccessibility (AWS13) were carried out under the umbrella of the project Trans-Antarctic Scientific Traverse Expeditions – Ice Divide of East Antarctica (TASTE-IDEA), funded by the Norwegian Polar Institute, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Research Council of Norway within the framework of TASTE-IDEA project 152 of IPY 2007–2008. The installations of AWS1-3 were carried out at a traverse during the Norwegian Antarctic Research Expedition (NARE) 1996/97 organized by the Norwegian Polar Institute. The traverse was a contribution to the "European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica" (EPICA), a joint ESF (European Science Foundation)/EC scientific programme, funded by the European Commission under the Environment and Climate Programme (1994-1998) contract ENV4-CT95-0074 and by national contributions from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Finnish Antarctic Research Program, (FINNARP) at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is acknowledged for the support with the operation of the weather station at Wasa/Aboa Camp Maudheimvida (AWS5). The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI) and the KU Leuven are acknowledged for the support regarding the weather station at the Princess Elisabeth station (AWS16) and On the King Baudouin ice shelf (AWS19). The British Antarctic survey is acknowledged for the support with the operations of the weather stations on the Larsen C ice shelf: North (AWS14), South (AWS15) and Cabinet inlet (AWS18), and on the remnants of the Larsen B ice shelf on Scar inlet (AWS17). The Swedish Antarctic Research Programme (SWEDARP) is acknowledged for the support with the operations of the weather station at the Rampen site 1090 (AWS4), Wasa/Aboa Camp Maudheimvida (AWS5), Svea (AWS6), Scharffenbergbotnen (AWS7), and Camp Victoria (AWS8) in Dronning Maud Land. The weather station on Roi Baudouin ice shelf (AWS19) was installed in the framework of the BENEMELT project, funded by the InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, a joint initiative of the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund and the International Polar Foundation (IPF).