Last week at the Pole, they had their Easter dinner—since the kitchen staff doesn’t normally work on Sundays, it was delayed, but only by a day. There was an assortment of colored and decorated eggs as part of the festivities, too (maybe next week they’ll have egg salad?). IceCube’s winterovers were busy with quite an […]
It was a quiet week at the Pole, at least for IceCube’s winterovers, with smooth detector operations—no problems or urgent troubleshooting. But there were still the typical activities, like maintenance work, emergency response training, and a cause for celebration (last week it was Easter). It was also quiet outside, with clear skies to enjoy the […]
The sun may be gone, but its light still lingers. At the Pole, sunset doesn’t just “happen”—it takes place slowly through prolonged stages of twilight, after the sun dips below the horizon, in which the light gradually diminishes until darkness reigns. That’s IceCube winterover Marc, above, outside the IceCube Lab as he gets ready to […]
The sun has finally gone below the horizon at the Pole, not to peek back up again for another six months or so. IceCube’s winterovers spent some time early in the week finishing up outdoor work in the fading light. Although the weather was rather bad last week, there were a few nice hours of […]
Where is the horizon? Well, it must be there somewhere, hidden between the white of the snow on the ground and the white of the cloudy sky above. These winterovers were posing at the ceremonial Pole during a recent “sunset stroll,” which was technically a 3K race but one that could be done in a […]
IceCube winterover Marc stationed himself nicely to get this photo of the sun setting behind the ceremonial South Pole. He photographed it from a distance last month, under clear skies when the sun was still high. But you don’t need a month for the environment to look different. The two photos below of the IceCube […]
Although it was generally quiet last week, IceCube’s winterovers took some interesting photos of their activities and surroundings. First up, weather balloon launching. Winterover Marc put his training to work as he was on weather balloon duty last week. On one of those days, a sundog appeared just at the right time to serve as […]
The sun has not quite set at the South Pole, but it’s low and the shadows are getting longer. Last week, IceCube’s winterovers were busy (working and playing) outdoors. Marc learned to launch a weather balloon, so he can join the rotation of volunteers to launch daily balloons as there’s no meteorologist stationed at the […]
Winter officially began last week at the Pole with the final flight departure (above) and the last traverse, SPOT3 (below), leaving the station. The plane carried away the few remaining summer personnel, who did not want to miss that flight since the next one out wouldn’t be for another eight months or so. So, who’s […]
As the sun continues its slow descent, the temperatures at the Pole have been dropping as well—last week they reached –40 °C (which also happens to be –40 °F), cold by anyone’s standards. Everyone at the South Pole station has been preparing for the upcoming station closing. The last shipment of fresh vegetables that they’ll […]