Week 44 at the Pole
Lots of firsts as a new summer season begins at the South Pole. Last week saw the first LC-30 to arrive, seen above as it’s being marshaled in and below after landing and releasing a group of red parkas onto the ice, the first group of many to come. The changing-of-the-guard period at the Pole has begun. Two of the arrivals are the new IceCube winterovers, Johannes and Raffaela, here for the upcoming year, replacing James and Martin, whose tour of duty is coming to an end. The four of them will overlap for a while, so that Johannes and Raffaela will be well trained before James and Martin actually depart. On their first outing to the IceCube Lab, they took a nice group photo under sunny skies. At bottom, Martin stands in the food storage arch, showing off the abundant supplies. They won’t go hungry.
