The first IceCube summer deployments arrived at the South Pole station on Saturday November 4th, four days later than planned due to weather conditions at the South Pole Station. Deployments continued and the IceCube population ramped to plan by November 6th. By November 11, 39 IceCube personnel were at Pole. The weather has improved to the point that non-driftable cargo began arriving on Friday (November 10th). To date, the South Pole Station is ahead of the flight plan. We have had 37 sorties compared to a plan of 34. Fuel plan was approximately 80,600 gal, received approximately 74,250 gal (not reconciled with fuel records yet).
A National Science Board visit is scheduled for 11/14. A member of IceCube has been asked to provide a brief summary with tour of the IceCube Winter Site and the Seasonal Equipment Site (SES) in whatever stage of development it is.
Thirteen crates of various drill repair or replacement parts, 2 spools of IVG spare hose, 27 IceTop Tanks, 3 cartons of Perlite, and 3 Surface Cables, are now at Pole. Cargo deliveries are slightly behind schedule as the Station opened 11 days later than plan.
IceTop tanks are currently marshaled grid west of the Hypertats. Uncrating is planned to begin Monday (November 13th) with inspection to follow. A marshalling area has been selected grid east of the SES near the IceTop weather port
The Seasonal Equipment Site (SES) has been graded, compacted, fenced, and should be ready for EHWD build up by mid next week. The location for each MDS position will be marked by flag on Monday (November 13th), with expectation to begin moving the MDSs into position on Wednesday (November 15th). Water Tank 1 is being prepped for the stainless steel liner installation upgrade which is estimated to take 6 - 10 days to complete. Contingent plans are outlined in the SES build schedule to accommodate the Water Tank Upgrade in the event the process extends past November 20th.
Winter Over change-over is progressing. Victoria Landgraff and Ethan Dicks have extended their on-ice time until November 15th to facilitate training Claire Petersen and Sven Lindstrom (two of the 3 Winter Overs for next season). The turnover process lost 10 days due to late opening and are therefore slightly behind schedule.
Progress continues on the IceCube Laboratory (ICL) and according to RPSC the construction remodeling work is on schedule. Cable trenching has not begun. Survey work on cable trenches, service roads, IceTop trenches, and hole locations for this season has begun.
Surface Cables will be located near the IceCube Laboratory and point of installation. Pre-installation check out will occur there as well.
Various modifications are underway to improve the DAQ system, commissioning procedures and AMANDA integration.