Aerial RGB photographs of the Arctic Ocean sea ice surface were captured during MOSAiC (Leg 5) in August–September 2020 (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.945980). This dataset comprises RGBA orthomosaics in GeoTiff format, created from DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone flights conducted over the Central Observatory 3 (CO3). The data is projected using the UTM51N coordinate system (EPSG: 32651).The primary goal of this dataset is to facilitate the interpretation of co-located Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based spectral and broadband albedo observations. However, the orthomosaics also offer insights into sea ice surface conditions for a variety of other applications. Each file is named to include key metadata, such as the date, the relative location over the ice camp (Place), and the flight number. The timestamp of the first photograph of the flight is similarly indicated. All files are provided at their original full spatial resolution ranging between 0.71–1.2 cm.