Decreasing trend in summer sea-ice extent in the Arctic provides new opportunities for research vessels without ice-breaking capabilities to access the high-latitude open waters. During such observational campaigns, it is crucial from both scientific and cruise navigation standpoints to receive accurate data of the sea-ice extent and the synoptic weather pattern to conduct well-timed observations and to make an informed navigational decision. Transmission of such data proves to be a challenge in itself since the coverage of commonly used Inmarsat satellites become poor in the high latitudes, especially north of 75° N. To address this issue, we developed a semi-real-time data transmission system which incorporates both near real-time condition of the sea-ice extent and atmospheric forecast data. The setup was used for assisting the R/V Mirai cruise of September–October 2009 in the Beaufort Sea and R/V Lance cruise of October 2009 in the Barents Sea. Two types of figures are made, one of which is a composite of sea-ice concentration calculated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer–EOS (AMSR-E) and atmospheric forecast data based on the Japan Meteorological Agency GPV-GSM output. Another figure is a 4 day cyclone track forecast based on the algorithm by Simmons and others (2009). Together, these figures provide a composite view of the present and future development of the synoptic weather system and expected sea-ice drift. Also, a subset of the GPV data is sent 6 hourly to assist on-board research activities. The flexibility of the system enables figures to be sent in variable resolutions suitable for both Inmarsat and low-bandwidth Iridium satellite connection. Further detail of the data transmission system and installment during the two aforementioned observational cruises will be addressed in this presentation.