If you don’t know what your head weighs, there are ways to find out. One way is to join the annual head weighing competition at the South Pole. Well, first you’d have to get to the South Pole…but once there, you’d have that option. This year, first prize went to an IceCuber, shown above after […]
The IceCube population at the South Pole is high right now for the final IceCube Upgrade field season, but there are still some people whose stays are over. Last week saw the departure of Ralf Auer, IceCube winterover manager, shown above with current winterovers Alicia and Camille as he bid them farewell. The winterovers, of […]
Last week was very busy with computer upgrades, including operating system and firmware updates along with lots of machine rebooting. A challenging task, the “reboot-athon” was split up over several days. IceCube’s winterovers and seasonal crew welcomed additional arrivals last week. They also watched the South Pole Overland Traverse, or SPOT, arrive, laden with cargo […]
The South Pole is not immune to trash. Trash accumulates there just as it does anywhere else. At the Pole, however, there are strict policies in place for dealing with and getting rid of waste. With exceptions for sewage and liquid waste, everything else is sorted, packaged, and shipped back off the continent. Last week […]
IceCube’s new winterovers Alicia and Camille had an active week at the Pole. They wrapped up some computer maintenance and firmware upgrades to servers at the IceCube Lab and at the South Pole station. Snowmobile training was also on the agenda for one of them. Last week’s weather saw not only drastic changes in temperature […]
In with the old, out with the new. [Wait a minute, strike that, reverse it.] …It’s in with the new! Yes, it’s that time of year again—the changing of the (IceCube winterover) guard. Newcomers Camille Parisel and Alicia Fattorini stood for a photo with outgoing winterovers Ilya Bodo and Joe Baines-Holmes. They had just finished […]
When it rains, it pours—five planes arrived last week at the Pole. The South Pole station population tripled, and many of the new arrivals were IceCubers. The two new winterovers for the upcoming season, Camille and Alicia, were warmly welcomed out on the ice by the outgoing winterovers, Joe and Ilya, with a fancy, cardboard […]
The first flight bringing summer crew to the South Pole finally arrived. It was a Basler plane, which brought 12 arrivals but left with three of the winterovering crew. IceCube’s current winterovers Joe and Ilya are still at the Pole, waiting for their replacements to arrive. Even with the first arrivals, the week was relatively […]
Things were quieter at the Pole last week than they might have been. Uncooperative weather delayed the opening flight of the season, so the new people they had been expecting didn’t show up. But there were more transitioning flights, like the previous week, one of which delivered the first fresh produce the winterovers have seen […]
Someone has to be first. This season, the first plane to arrive at the South Pole was the Basler plane shown above (and below), which was just stopping through on its way from Rothera Station to McMurdo. A small Twin Otter also landed at the Pole last week, another flight en route to McMurdo. Soon […]