Week 3 at the Pole

Friday, January 27, 2017 - 1:45pm

lounging on ice next to open trench at the South Pole
Keiichi Mase, IceCube/NSF

Last week’s photos sum up the main activities for IceCube folks currently at the South Pole—snowmobiling, shoveling, and sunbathing.  The snowmobile was put into action to transport a bunch of people to and from the IceCube Lab.  All the shoveling was in support of ARA, including trenches for new cabling and uncovering a station box for repairs.  And with such a nice, bright sun (check out that sun halo), who wouldn’t want to lie down and sunbathe?  Well, maybe those who don’t like lying down outside in the cold.  And it is still cold, as evidenced by the fancy icework in winterover James’s eyebrows and beard.  There was plenty of indoor activity last week, too, with the summer personnel still around, who are shown gathered in the final image below in a 360-degree shot taken in the B2 science lab.

snowmobiling at the South Pole, with ICL in background
Samuel Flis, IceCube/NSF

digging in the snow at the South Pole
Keiichi Mase, IceCube/NSF

uncovering a buried detector station
Samuel Flis, IceCube/NSF

two bodies lying on the ice, sunbathing at the South Pole
Kate Miller, NSF

sun halo
Kate Miller, NSF

ice clumps in beard
Kate Miller, NSF

360-degree group shot at the Pole
Keiichi Mase, IceCube/NSF