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“Week at the Pole”
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Thursday, March 10, 2016 - 9:45am
There’s a beautiful half moon in this image, can you spot it? Well, it is a little small in the photo—but sometimes we don’t notice the moon out during the day because we’re not expecting it. However, we shouldn’t be surprised see it then, since it’s often visible.
Thursday, March 3, 2016 - 9:30am
Chairs and sofas (and mattresses!) have been set up in the gym, all for the sake of movie-watching comfort. It’s unclear how they vied for best seats. But some padding or support is imperative when you’re going to hunker down for three movies in a row—or rather, three versions of the same movie. Yes, we’re talking about The Thing, the traditional entertainment springboard to ring in the beginning of the winter season at the South Pole.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - 3:15pm
A cloud of snow dust appears in the wake of the last flight out of the South Pole for the season. Well…almost. It was supposed to be the last flight, but unforeseen circumstances (they do crop up every so often) caused a few summer personnel to delay their departure a few more days. Delays can be a nuisance, but so close to the end of the summer season, they’re even more likely to produce anxiety since in winter there’s no leaving the Pole once the last flight has gone.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016 - 5:15pm
Maybe we should all do this with our packages from now on. Mail and cargo arrived last week, and someone set out the contents of one of the boxes quite decoratively for the photo. To efficiently unload the goods when they arrived, they formed an assembly line going up the stairs to the station.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016 - 11:15am
Last week, the South Pole traverse finished unloading the supply of fuel it had brought, transferring it all to the tanks on station. They should be all set for winter, which is long at the South Pole and is fast approaching.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - 3:00pm
When traveling to the South Pole, you have to be prepared for delays. But last week it was the station, not the travelers, that was not quite prepared—with a summer population close to its limits, it had to creatively house dozens of passengers left behind from departing planes that boomeranged. The gym was put to use, as was the lounge and other common areas with chairs and sofas. The weather finally behaved toward the end of the week and the stranded folks finally made it out of there
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - 5:30pm
Four new arrivals reported to the South Pole ready for duty after experiencing considerable travel delays. They donned their white lab coats and got to work, performing test runs and installing cabling (looks like fun!)—and they even fit in some time to join a scheduled outreach webcast to talk about their work and travels. For those who ventured outdoors, a nice sun halo was on view. And the penguin?
Friday, January 22, 2016 - 10:30am
Photos show the spot of the geographical South Pole, just before and after the old marker was removed—as we mentioned last week, at the beginning of each year a new marker is situated at the current location, which shifts constantly due to the movement of the ice sheet.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - 3:15pm
Week 52 is our last week of the year at the South Pole. And every New Year’s Day, they have a celebration at the Pole in which they plant a newly designed marker for the location of the ever-shifting geographic pole.
Thursday, January 7, 2016 - 1:30pm
Last week saw the arrival of IceCube’s second winterover, Mack van Rossem, finally (an unusual glitch this year left IceCube with only one winterover until now). Mack got to jump right in, driving the scout for the regular December snow survey.