Week 2 at the Pole

Winterover outside after South Pole marathon, up close with face completely covered in frosted balaclava.
Karsten Look, NSF

Last week was generally busy at the Pole. There were lots of tours happening around the station, and IceCube’s winterovers Moreno and Celas were both taking tours (SuperDARN and BICEP) and giving them at the IceCube Lab. As members of the medical emergency response team, they both participated in scheduled drills last week, too. And the weather was fairly cooperative for tackling some outdoor projects, one of which was setting up a wind turbine on top of the IceCube Lab. Celas is shown below in the midst of mounting the turbine, which can then be seen in the next image fully mounted on the corner of the roof. Finally, the annual South Pole marathon was held last week, and Moreno, above, participated. He was 30 km into the 42 km race when it was unfortunately interrupted due to bad weather conditions, with wind chills from -36 C to -46 C.

Winterover mounting a wind turbine on top of the IceCube Lab.
Moreno Baricevic, IceCube/NSF
Side view of IceCube Lab with newly mounted wind turbine on top corner of roof.
Wenceslas Marie-Sainte, IceCube/NSF