Week 44 at the Pole

Four winterovers posing on snowdrift in front of the IceCube Lab.
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF

Last week, Moreno Baricevic and Wenceslas “Celas” Marie-Sainte, IceCube’s two new winterovers for the 2021-2022 season, arrived at the South Pole. They appear in the image above along with Josh Veitch-Michaelis and Martin Wolf, IceCube’s outgoing winterovers. This changing of the guard happens every year, but timing doesn’t always allow for a group-of-4 photo. Before Josh and Martin take their leave, they will spend some time orienting the newcomers. The first few days were quiet as far as IceCube was concerned, and the group focused more on station tours. Next week, they’ll have more hands-on training for taking care of the detector. Last week there was also a C17 aircraft flying over the South Pole for air drop practice. Nothing was actually dropped, but Martin caught some images of the aircraft—just below as it was over the station and the ceremonial South Pole and in the last photo as it was flying over the satellite domes.

C17 flying above the South Pole station.
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF
C17 flying above satellite domes at the South Pole.
Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF