A nice halo surrounds the lowering sun at the Pole, with some mistiness along the horizon. Sun halos, also called 22-degree halos, can appear in clear skies, too, as it’s the crystals in the high cirrus clouds that refract the light in this way. IceCube winterover Ilya captured another nice outdoor photo below, showing the […]
Ah, the waning days of summer, when the shadows cast by the lowering sun lengthen with each passing day. Here we see the photographer’s shadow as they capture a view of the station from the berms. Last week at the Pole was relatively quiet for IceCube’s winterovers. Both Ilya and Joe are on the emergency […]
A small plane found itself parked in behind some other aircraft at the South Pole last week, but it was next in line to depart. Instead of moving the planes in front of it out of the way, they found a simpler solution by attaching the tail wheel of the plane to a bulldozer and […]
The station is technically closed for the winter season, but there are still some Basler planes (and their pilots) transitioning from other Antarctic research stations that have stopped temporarily at the South Pole. IceCube winterovers Joe and Ilya were busy last week finishing up various outdoor tasks before the weather becomes too cold. Below the […]
And just like that, summer’s over and winter begins. At the Pole last week, a bunch of winterovers stood out on the ice as the last of the summer personnel boarded their plane headed for McMurdo Station, the first leg of their trip home. Below we see front and back views of the IceCube Lab […]
A white rainbow? Well, yes—it’s also called a fogbow! Fogbows are rarer than rainbows, and guess what—they’re sometimes referred to as “ghost rainbows.” Sound familiar? More and more summer personnel were leaving the Pole last week, as final touches were put in place to winterize IceCube Upgrade equipment. […]
What’s so funny? Who knows, but a few IceCube folks shared a good laugh out on the ice before leaving the South Pole last week. There were quite a few departures, as the summer season is winding down. There was also a sizeable incoming group—various flight issues had delayed their arrival to the Pole until […]
This week’s aerial photo from the South Pole features a 360-degree view from above the IceCube Lab, taken with a camera mounted to a kite. Spectacular! It was a busy week as usual at the Pole, with Upgrade and IceCube maintenance teams working to wrap up summer season tasks. There was ARA work as well, […]
An aeriel view of the IceCube Lab also shows the IceCube Upgrade drill camp in its current state of summer season activity. The Upgrade team has been working steadily over the summer to prepare for next year’s drilling activities. Last week, a group of IceCubers assisted in getting the IceAct telescopes deployed and operational—as good […]
Last week at the Pole continued to be busy with lots of IceCube Upgrade activities. Here’s a different view from the previous week of the cabling progress for the Upgrade, this time with the IceCube Lab seen behind the large spools of cable. Members of the cable pull team took a moment to pose and […]