Week 35 at the Pole
One unique aspect of living at the Pole for a year is experiencing only one sunset, at the equinox in March, and only one sunrise, which occurs in September, while you’re there. Since the sun rises just once during the whole year, it’s kind of a big deal. It’s also a slow process, with daylight increasing little by little as the sun’s arrival nears. The official sunrise hasn’t happened yet, but last week station personnel were free to remove the window coverings that have been up all winter to block indoor lighting from penetrating the outdoors. IceCube winterover Christian took a nice time-lapse video capturing the event. Even with light on the horizon, you can see that it’s still rather dark outside—particularly apparent when viewed from inside the station, where the windows are still acting like mirrors.
