We present the prototype of a simplified photogrammetric system (HELicopter-borne Ice Observation System, HELIOS) and demonstrate how it can be used to document ground-based and airborne sea ice surveys. The aerial unit consists of a nadir-looking digital camera mounted on a gimbal, a GPS receiver and a computer. It is of low-cost and weight and is designed such that it withstands low temperatures, operates autonomously and fits to any standard helicopter skid. The accuracy of the georeferenced photographs is about ± 15 m for a flight height of 85 m, flight speed of 130 km/h and a GPS sampling rate of 4 Hz. Systematic errors arise from the GPS-based determination of the camera position, the pointing accuracy of the gimbal, and the camera alignment in flight direction. Because most sea ice mapping projects require lesser accuracies than conventional mapping standards (e.g. ≤ 0.5 m for a map scale of 1:600, ASPRS (1994)), HELIOS offers a broad range of applications. This includes the photogrammetric documentation of experimental sites as well as the verification of satellite-, and model-based estimates of sea ice and snow cover properties. Images taken simultaneously with other airborne observations provide a valuable tool to assess the accuracy of those measurements.