Week 40 at the Pole

Friday, October 12, 2018 - 9:30am

Several people outdoors at the Pole outfitting fuel pipes
Johannes Werthebach, IceCube/NSF

Summer season at the Pole begins with a reminder that expectations based on flight arrivals, or departures, often require some flexibility.  Just when the first small aircrafts were supposed to make pit stops for refueling, the weather turned bad, delaying all the planes until the following week. The folks at the Pole should be ready then since they got the fuel pit all set up last week, as shown in image above.  And so, the (on-again, off-again) waiting game for flights in and out has begun.  While they wait, though, there are still chores to do, like snow removal.  The snowcat at bottom is poised for action.

Stacks of boxes snowed in and frosted over
Johannes Werthebach, IceCube/NSF

Close-up front view of plow on snowcat
Johannes Werthebach, IceCube/NSF