Week 38 at the Pole

twoatsunrise
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF

Last week we saw that someone had pulled up a chair to watch the sunrise, this week there are two. And these two people are actually watching the sun—it has been climbing higher and higher all week and is now officially up. Their exposed arms and legs are for effect only. IceCube winterover Martin is sensibly still wearing his cold weather gear as he shows off the sunrise in the photo at bottom.

To celebrate sunrise, as tradition holds, the South Pole staff enjoyed a special sunrise dinner at the end of the week. No food photos this time, but past years tell us that there’s always a nice meal put together by the kitchen crew, sometimes themed. Before the meal last week, they raffled off the flags that have been flying at the ceremonial pole all year. These outdoor flags are replaced each year since they take so much abuse from the elements—their tattered edges are evident below as well as in the bottom photo with Martin, which was apparently taken pre-sunrise-dinner.

sunrise
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF
flags
Dave Riebel/NSF
Martinsunrise
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF