It’s that time of year again, when the sun rises at the South Pole. That’s right, time of year, singular, since the sun rises just one time over the course of a year. And it happens ever so slowly. They’re in a period of twilight these days—nautical twilight, to be specific, when the sun is […]
The South Pole’s “Polympics” definitely builds some fun into the competitions. There were all sorts of events, from a doughnut eating competition, to pool tournaments, to a box stacking contest. IceCube’s winterovers garnered their share of awards, with a cumulative six golds, four silvers, and two bronzes. Of course, with only 40 people and nearly […]
Let the games begin! South Pole’s version of the Olympics—the “Polympics”—has several years under its belt by now. The opening ceremony to kick off this year’s event was held last week with much fanfare. Station participants were grouped into six “countries,” which were introduced with their own custom flags and national anthems. IceCube winterover Connor […]
The atmosphere at the Pole was a bit more relaxed last week. Like other people all over the world, many at the station were enjoying watching the Summer Olympics in Paris. The South Pole station traditionally holds their own “Polympics”—still to come, planning is underway. The skies were nice last week. Below, a group is […]
It was back-to-back celebrations last week at the South Pole. First up was Christmas in July, a tradition observed at the Pole as well as at other places around the globe, especially in the Southern Hemisphere where the winter climate is in July rather than December. The winterovers put up seasonal decorations and lights, enjoyed […]
Last week’s continued good weather brought many of the South Pole’s winterovers outdoors to take photos of the skies. IceCube winterover Connor made a two-hour time-lapse video of the sky above the IceCube Lab (ICL), from which the image above, with bright star trails, and the image below, with the Milky Way showing more clearly, […]
Last week was a relatively quiet one at the Pole, indoors and outdoors. After a long stretch of high winds and low visibility, they finally found themselves with clear skies. The auroras seemed ever present, and there were wonderful views of the Milky Way as well. Besides some monthly maintenance tasks and work on the […]
This group is all smiles, so it looks like they survived their 14-hour journey following Frodo and Sam from the Shire to Mount Doom. Well, “follow” in this case means doing cardio for the duration of the movies’ combined run times. This was their “Walk to Mordor,” which was preceded a while back by a […]
The window of good weather that IceCube’s winterovers were waiting for arrived, so last week saw the installation of the IceAct telescope. Half a dozen station members came out to assist the winterovers in the operation. There’s lots of helping out at the South Pole, especially with the small crew during the winter. They still […]
You may have seen one midwinter at the Pole, but that doesn’t mean you’ve seen them all. Although it’s an annual tradition, each year’s crew puts their individual spin on this celebratory event, whether in the details of the formal table settings (notice fresh flowers from the greenhouse) or in the planned activities that follow […]