The data set includes the light absorption coefficient of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) from 200 nm to 700 nm wavelength and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the land-fast ice in the Laptev Sea. Sampling was carried out March and April 2012. Samples were collected with the help of helicopters in March and April 2012 from camps on the land-fast ice of the south eastern Laptev Sea. During the winter expedition a standalone CTD (Seabird 19+) was lowered through an ice hole along with Nansen water samplers. Six Ice cores (9 cm diameter) from different ice types were collected in 2012 at three sampling sites. Subsamples from the ice cores were taken at 10 cm intervals to represent the different periods in which the ice formed, with the youngest ice occurring in the lower section and the oldest ice from the first phases of ice formation during early winter in the uppermost sections of the ice core. In addition to the CDOM, DOC and salinity measurements in the ice cores, we measured CDOM, DOC, temperature and salinity in the water column under the ice.