If you don’t know what your head weighs, there are ways to find out. One way is to join the annual head weighing competition at the South Pole. Well, first you’d have to get to the South Pole…but once there, you’d have that option. This year, first prize went to an IceCuber, shown above after […]
Drilling has begun! Of course, it didn’t “just happen”—lots of hard work went into getting all the necessary pieces to come together. The previous week’s readiness review had identified a number of critical action items to address before actual drilling could begin. Once resolved, drill preparations began. The drill team routed hot pressurized water through […]
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole searches for high-energy neutrinos that are either produced in the vicinity of distant astrophysical accelerators like black holes and neutron stars (astrophysical neutrinos) or from the interaction of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere (atmospheric neutrinos). Atmospheric neutrinos arise primarily from the decay of charged mesons produced […]
The IceCube population at the South Pole is high right now for the final IceCube Upgrade field season, but there are still some people whose stays are over. Last week saw the departure of Ralf Auer, IceCube winterover manager, shown above with current winterovers Alicia and Camille as he bid them farewell. The winterovers, of […]
Neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles that can travel extraordinarily long distances unimpeded. Because of this, neutrinos act as “messengers,” harboring information about their cosmic sources. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole studies highly energetic astrophysical neutrinos that originate from the farthest reaches of outer space. Neutrinos come in three different types or […]
They’re getting close to drilling at the South Pole. Last week saw a continued influx of IceCube personnel, including some drillers and integration experts. The week’s primary focus was taking stock and working on final tasks in each work area. Crews tested the brakes on the large reel for the main drill cable, which is […]
Last week was very busy with computer upgrades, including operating system and firmware updates along with lots of machine rebooting. A challenging task, the “reboot-athon” was split up over several days. IceCube’s winterovers and seasonal crew welcomed additional arrivals last week. They also watched the South Pole Overland Traverse, or SPOT, arrive, laden with cargo […]
Looks like someone doesn’t mind a little frost on the face. And notice their sunglasses, which reflect the cargo brought by the first SPOT of the season. That load included the seven main cables for the Upgrade deployment. One of those cable spools is shown below being lifted off the trailer sled by a large […]
Beneath 1.5 kilometers of ice near the geographic South Pole, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is on the hunt for ghost particles.
As the world’s first gigaton neutrino detector, IceCube is used by astrophysicists to better understand cosmic objects by observing the neutrinos — abundant, nearly massless, and mysterious elementary particles — that they produce. […]
The South Pole is not immune to trash. Trash accumulates there just as it does anywhere else. At the Pole, however, there are strict policies in place for dealing with and getting rid of waste. With exceptions for sewage and liquid waste, everything else is sorted, packaged, and shipped back off the continent. Last week […]