The time has come for our current winterovers, Marc and Hrvoje, to pass the torch to the new winterovers that arrived at the South Pole last week. As a winterover, individuals brave the unforgiving environment to spend a year—sometimes longer—at the South Pole, half of which is enveloped in complete darkness. Every year, two winterovers […]
Seems like only yesterday when IceCube winterovers Hrvoje and Marc arrived at the South Pole to begin their adventure. And yet here they are, greeting their replacements as they prepare to hand over the reins. Bad weather delayed some incoming flights during the past week, but in the end IceCube’s new winterovers, Connor Duffy and […]
This could be IceCube winterover Marc’s last weather balloon launch at the South Pole. And what a nice image, with a sun halo in the sky as a backdrop. Marc has helped launch quite a few balloons during his time at the Pole, but that time is now dwindling, for both him and fellow IceCube […]
Summer season has begun—there were two flights in and out of the Pole last week. The first flight just stopped for refueling (below) after flying through South America on its way to McMurdo Station. But they left behind some fresh fruit (or “freshies,” as they call them)—a very welcome sight after 8 months of no […]
With the first planes of the summer season soon to arrive, it’s full steam ahead for readying the station for new arrivals. Among the many preparations, the winterovers reinstalled flags along the skiway. The structures off in the distance are the radio and satellite communications facilities for the Pole. A sunny day provided good conditions […]
Oh, we thought they were done clearing snow. Guess not—look at all that accumulation still on the front deck of the IceCube Lab. A few hours later, though, and most of it is gone. Phew! The IceCube detector was quiet last week, but IceCube’s winterovers kept themselves busy. Besides shoveling snow, they replaced outdoor flags […]
Last week was another relatively quiet week at the South Pole. IceCube’s winterovers responded to a couple of pages for troubleshooting issues, did the monthly IceTop DOM calibration run, and finished up some tests and preparations for a workstation OS update scheduled for next week. Given a well-behaved detector, the winterovers spent some time outdoors. […]
Things were on the quiet side last week at the South Pole. The sun is up but still very low in the sky—check out the long shadow cast by the IceCube Lab (ICL), above. Below, instead, is a nice view of the ICL as it sunbathes in the early sunrise, with sastrugi now visible in […]
It was very cloudy for the official sunrise this year. In fact, it was cloudy most of last week at the Pole, as evidenced in the weather balloon photo below, where the white ground blends seamlessly into the white sky. The sun is clearly visible on the horizon in the photo above and the one […]
It’s getting quite bright outdoors, clear enough to see the penguin in front of you—that is, if you happen to be holding a paper version in your hand (or are reading a special comic), as there are no such creatures otherwise found at the South Pole. Even though it’s still cold at the Pole, the […]