Does the IceCube Lab seem a little different, maybe a little lonely? There are new flaglines for the recently installed IceCube Upgrade strings, but otherwise no evidence is left behind of the very active drill camp in operation there over the summer. It looks as if nothing had happened (well, some of us know better). […]
Last week at the Pole brought a couple of rare (or first-time) events. First up, the fogbow. That’s right, not a rainbow but like a rainbow, in shape at least. Fogbows are much rarer than rainbows, but they’re not so unusual that folks at the Pole haven’t captured photos of them before. The second event […]
What if you were trapped inside a D-Egg, with a group of people smiling at you from the outside? Although we can’t say what that might feel like, we can say what it would look like. The image above was captured from an actual D-Egg for the IceCube Upgrade—it’s just not one that was deployed […]
The IceCube Upgrade drill camp was still in operation last week. Above is a view with all heaters working to get the water for the drill up to temperature. But as the Upgrade season is starting to wind down, last week was a good time to get the whole group together for a celebration before […]
There’s been activity of all kinds at the South Pole lately, but let’s not forget about the greenhouse. Volunteer training has begun, and if those strong looking shoots continue to grow nicely, they might be enjoying peas at the Pole in no time. Much of the other activity has been focused on the IceCube Upgrade […]
The South Pole moves every year. Well, it does in a sense, as the geographic South Pole continuously shifts due to movement of the ice sheet, moving about 10 meters per year—and the marked location of the geographic South Pole is updated at the beginning of each year to reflect the current location. It’s a […]
Some weeks are more exciting than others. Last week at the Pole, it seemed there was cause for excitement at every turn. Foremost was the successful deployment of the IceCube Upgrade string. Then there was the two-mile “Race Around the World,” in which this year’s participants included the mDOM (in costume and finishing 73 out […]
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 […]