This dataset provides details about soil cores (active layer and permafrost) collected from ice-wedge polygons during field expeditions to Barrow Environmental Observatory, Alaska in April, 2012 and 2013. Core information available are exact core locations; soil horizon descriptions and characteristics; and fundamental soil physico-chemical properties. In February 2016, two columns (carbon and carbon:nitrogen in soil layer) were added to the data but no existing data values changed. See documentation. The new filename is version 2. In July 2016, data for two soil cores were added. The new filename is version 3. This dataset includes two pdf files, one csv file, and one xlsx file.The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research.The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska.Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).