The AIDJEX program was the first major western sea ice experiment constructed specifically to answer emerging questions about how sea ice moves and changes in response to the influence of ocean and atmosphere. A pilot study in 1972 was followed by the AIDJEX field program in 1975 and 1976.

Researchers maintained four manned camps on ice floes in the Beaufort Sea. The scientists collected meteorological and oceanographic data from instruments located at the camps and on floating data buoys. The experiment was designed to collect coordinated measurements over at least one year, in order to have the right combination of data for understanding atmosphere and ice interactions. The submarine USS Gurnardparticipated by collecting ice draft data from upward-looking acoustical soundings (sonar). Ice draft (the depth of the ice below the water surface) is an estimator of ice thickness.

The University of Washington led the logistics and research work of the program, which was a collaboration between the United States, Canada, and Japan. Norbert Untersteiner was instrumental in the design of AIDJEX and served as Project Director from 1971 to 1978. The Polar Science Center at the University of Washington maintains an AIDJEX electronic library. It includes downloadable copies of the contents of all 40 AIDJEX Bulletins, beginning in 1970 and ending in 1978.