Week 52 at the Pole

Two people in kitchen, facing camera with cutting board off to side and one person holding up skewer.
Wenceslas Marie-Sainte, IceCube/NSF

Last week was the “last” (52nd) week of the year at the South Pole. As usual, there was a lot going on. For IceCube’s winterovers, this included dealing with a few detector issues, giving an IceCube Lab tour for a SPOT crew, locating containers of supplies buried in the snow, and continuing with medical emergency training. A busy week. But, as it was also the transition from 2021 to 2022, there were celebrations, too. Celas and Moreno are seen above having fun in the kitchen preparing hors d’oeuvres for the New Year’s Eve party. While below, two previous winterovers are showing off the new marker set to designate the location of the geographic South Pole for the upcoming year. A ceremony is held every January 1st for the pole marker unveiling.

IceCube winterover Moreno also took the time recently to label the photometeors in a fellow winterover’s photograph of the sun from the previous week that displayed a range of atmospheric optics, including sun dogs and halos (the dashed label indicates uncertainty). A fun “end of the year” photo display.

Two people standing in front of geographic South Pole sign and holding the pole marker.
Moreno Baricevic, IceCube/NSF
Bright sun with lots of halos and sun dogs.
Jeffrey Capps, NSF
Photo of bright sun with lots of halos and sun dogs, with markings added to indicate the particular atmospheric optics.
Jeffrey Capps, NSF; adapted by Moreno Baricevic, IceCube/NSF