Winter is just around the corner, but the South Pole greenhouse doesn’t know about it. Fresh vegetables are growing in there. IceCube winterover Martin had some greenhouse training last week, and harvested a striking (but not very ripe looking) tomato. […]
Darren Grant, who leads the IceCube team at the University of Alberta, has been awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). […]
Doesn’t it sometimes seem that folks at the South Pole are always smiling? Well, for many, getting to spend time at the Pole—extremely cold temperatures notwithstanding—is the dream of a lifetime. Still, this group shot shows summer crew about to leave for warmer climes. Maybe that’s why they’re smiling. […]
The IceCube Collaboration has recently presented an update to the search for dark matter annihilation in the sun using the first three years of data with the completed detector. The search, which again did not find evidence of neutrinos originating from dark matter annihilations, has now improved these limits by a factor of 2 to 4. These are again the most stringent limits on the spin-dependent dark-matter–proton scattering for WIMP masses above 50 GeV. This study was submitted to the European Physical Journal C. […]
New measurements of neutrino oscillations, observed at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, have shed light on outstanding questions regarding fundamental properties of neutrinos. These new measurements of neutrinos as they change from one type to another while they travel were presented at the American Physical Society Meeting in Washington. […]
Last week’s photos sum up the main activities for IceCube folks currently at the South Pole—snowmobiling, shoveling, and sunbathing. […]
Wait a minute—seals? penguins? at the South Pole? Well, you’re right to wonder, because the climate at the South Pole, in central Antarctica, is too harsh for survival even for animals adapted to lower temperatures. But winterovers deserve a break from Pole life when possible, and IceCube winterover Martin made it to McMurdo station last week for a few days of R&R, where he was able to capture penguins, seals, and a skua—all in the same shot. […]
A relatively quiet week at the Pole … but sunny! IceCube winterover Martin captured a bright, radiating sun as it appeared to rest on the roof of the IceCube Lab (ICL). Sunny or not, no flights made it in or out last week, postponing Martin’s week of R&R that had been scheduled. […]
The year’s end doesn’t mean an end to the work going on at the Pole. Last week, continued detector upgrades and some inventory tasks were on the work roster. There was also considerable progress made on a new IceTop snow-depth sensor project, documented in this image. […]
Last week, Christmas was celebrated in many parts of the world, and that includes the South Pole. They had a makeshift “cargo” tree, presents for the winterovers, a fancy dinner—complete with a printed menu and assorted European desserts, and a party in the gym. […]