Week 40 at the Pole

IceCube Lab, at three quarter view, on clear day, with snow drifts at base.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF

The summer season personnel have not yet begun arriving at the Pole, but the winterover crew needs some time to get ready for them, so preparations are underway. There are lots of things to do, one of which of course is snow removal. Above we see the IceCube Lab (clearly now…thanks, Sun!) with lots of snow drifted around the base but not so much on the stairs and decks. IceCube’s winterovers were out there tackling the two to three feet of snow that had built up on the decks alone. The bottom image shows a closer inspection of one of those decks after getting cleared. Inside the station, staff were filling up a space instead of clearing it. That’s the galley being set up for its summer configuration, with all the tables and chairs that had been moved out over the winter.

Long view of South Pole station galley with several people in the midst of organizing groups of tables and chairs.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF
Long view of an IceCube Lab deck freshly cleared of accumulated snow.
Ilya Bodo, IceCube/NSF