The surface albedo observations were carried out in 2008 during the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE). An ice camp was deployed at 84°37’ N, 144°45’ W on a large ice floe for 10 days; the ice floe was 5.5 m thick on average and covered with a thin snow layer of about 1–5 cm and adjoined with leads. The average albedo during the Ice Camp was 0.80 and the diurnal variation of surface albedo was about 0.05. The spectral albedo survey over different surfaces was also conducted. The variations of surface albedo were linked with the in situ weather conditions as well as the snow and ice conditions. The most dominant factor was the snow distributions. The surface albedo was calculated using several parameterization schemes, taking into account temperature, ice and snow thicknesses. A comparison was made between the modelled and observed albedo to decide what were the critical factors that affected the albedo changes during CHINARE2008. A high-resolution snow/ice thermodynamic model (HIGHTSI) was applied to simulate the snow and ice thickness. The impact of albedo on snow and ice thickness is investigated.