Week 42 at the Pole

icl_sunhalo
Christian Krueger, IceCube/NSF

This nice sun halo (properly called a 22º halo) that appeared directly above the IceCube Lab meant that there were ice crystals in the atmosphere, one of the reasons that the skiway wasn’t seeing enough action last week. Some folks were all packed up and ready to leave, but no plane was there to take them away as the flight schedule kept being pushed back due to weather. Such is life at the South Pole. Last week also saw the reopening of the station post office—the stash of postcards below will soon be dispersed in the mail. And as we know, there’s never a dull moment at the South Pole station, especially with their continual emergency response training. Last week they had a rescue drill by the firefighting team, with actual (controlled) fire and smoke. The last image shows the ER team from the “victim’s” point of view.

poastcards
Christian Krueger, IceCube/NSF
firefighters
Christian Krueger, IceCube/NSF
ERT
Mack van Rossem, IceCube/NSF