Very little snow actually falls at the South Pole. Antarctica as a whole is the driest continent on Earth, and the South Pole, with its high altitude and distance from the coasts, receives the least precipitation. Yet, there is snow everywhere, blown in from elsewhere, and drifts can quickly become unwieldy if not dealt with. […]
The sun takes its time setting at the South Pole. And even after it has officially set, there remains an afterglow in the sky. This lingering light and some low horizontal clouds produced a beautiful orange backdrop last week to some of the dark sector buildings. […]
With the equinox last week, the annual sunset dinner was held at the South Pole station. It’s a celebration for a unique sunset that most of us don’t get to experience—where the sun sets slowly over time and, once set, does not reappear for another six months. […]
Close up, with the sun behind it, or from a distance, with the sun shining upon its face, the ICL, or IceCube Lab, is a rather photogenic building, with its blue, elevated structure and shiny, symmetrical towers. A low, bright sun makes its towers gleam, and the shadows that it casts stretch on and on. […]
The temperatures have been dropping, into the –50s °C, while the sun continues to get lower in the sky. These overcast photos give a sense of the impending darkness. […]
It was a week of acronyms and snow surveys. Each year at the Pole, before the darkness of winter sets in, IceCube winterovers take advantage of the still available daylight to complete tasks that can’t be managed well in the dark. This week, one of those chores was surveying snow depths from accumulations around the IceTop stations. They got going after they drove an LMC out of the VMF. […]
What’s the easiest way to get a nicely centered picture of an approaching airplane on the ice at the South Pole? Have it taxi straight toward you. Here’s the last Herc of the season to arrive at the Pole, just as it came to a stop. […]
The week began with some extra-nice halos and ended with an exodus of most of the summer people at the Pole. In between, there was typical detector maintenance as well as continued snow management around the IceCube Lab. […]
Giant spools sure do serve as a great photo prop. Now empty, these spools had a previous life, brought to the Pole full of cable and ready for action, for use on IceCube and other nearby experiments. But then what to do with them? […]
Last week we saw a sun halo, and a few weeks back we saw the newly inaugurated South Pole marker. Lo and behold, they have come together. Great shot! […]