Yet another link

This was a phone interview with schools from Delaware to Nebraska. You can hear my voice, I think. http://www.expeditions.udel.edu/antarctica/call/dec14.mp4
For their blog, see http://www.expeditions.udel.edu/antarctica/

Also:
news.yahoo.com

IceCube in the news

We finished our last string on Saturday, and took yesterday off. We are in the news!

Check us out in the news!

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/17/icecube-antarctica-worlds-biggest-telescope-south-pole/
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/article_f521ebfa-0b7e-11e0-97c7-001cc4c002e0.html
http://gallery.icecube.wisc.edu/external/completion_www/
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118236

More photos

Hi! Sorry I haven't posted much on this blog: I have been extremely busy. I promise I will write more soon. In the meantime, click here for more photos!

A few links

The Moon-Regan expedition arrived at the South Pole a couple of days ago. They are driving across the continent on a "bio-inspired" fuel vehicle. http://www.transantarcticexpedition.com

IceCube also has a high school teacher working with us through the PolarTREC program. Each year a few teachers get matched up with various projects around Antarctica, and they work with us for a few weeks. She has some interesting blogs and description of her experiences. She is also conducting some experiments on her own: check her out at: http://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/icecube-in-ice-antarctic-telescope-2010/journals

South Pole accommodations

This year, my accommodation is not quite as posh as last year. I am staying out in the Summer Camp, in the James way tents. The summer camp is located about 1/4 mile from the station, and it is, shall we say, a more rustic accommodation. Since there are 250 people at the South Pole and the station can only hold 150, about 100 of us are staying out here. The camp consists of 15 or so of either fabric or metal tents in the photo. I think these tents were designed in the Korean War era. You still get your own room, the tents are divided into rooms by wood and insulation, the rooms are surprisingly soundproof.

Another IceCuber showed me how to get around in these tents, from finding your room in the pitch dark (some people may be sleeping since people are working all shifts), to which building the bathrooms are located in. Yes, I will have to walk outside to go to the bathroom. I will be roughing it this trip! Apparently I got one of the nicer rooms in these tents: I have a desk and a chair, and I am away from the door which means less people walk past my room and more importantly, it is warm. And there is wireless internet, at least when the satellite is up. First order of business: put some pictures on the walls.

I'm at the Pole!

Here I am, finally! When fellow IceCube colleague and I got off the plane, there were several friends waiting for us at the airplane. It is still exciting to be here but definitely different from the first time. For example, I don't have a single photo from getting off the plane and going into the Station so you will have to look through my photos from last year. It's about -32 Celcius or -25 F. Once you are over the initial cold air taking your breath away, it doesn't feel cold as you might imagine especially with all the gear they provide. It's amazing what modern equipment can do! The altitude is more of a problem: the ice is 10,000 feet thick and there is much less oxygen here than at sea level. Everyone is advised to take it easy for the first couple of days to get acclimated. No running, no heavy exertion, and walk up the stairs very slowly.

There are currently about 250 people at the South Pole, 50 of which are working on IceCube. We are definitely the big kid on the block here. It's great to see some people I met here last trip, meet new people, and see old friends!

View from McMurdo

Our plane landed on an ice field at McMurdo.  In a few weeks, they will move the air-field out onto the continent, about 30 minutes away past the New Zealand base so that the ice breaker can come in to let ships come through.  The ships will contain cargo for the next year, and if you have big equipment you want to send something to Antarctica for a year from now, you do that on those ships.  Once the ice breakers come and there is open water, penguins and seals will show up since now food is accessible for them.

unloading at McMurdo

This is the airplane that we flew on from Christchurch to McMurdo.  We are getting on a bus as they unload cargo (including my detectors) from the back of the plane.  The back of the plane drops open, and in goes a forklift.  Very efficient!

 

 

another one from the flight

If you ask nicely, well as nice as you can shouting over the airplane noise, they let you go up to the cockpit.  Views were spectacular!

 

 

More photos from the flight

This is the plane from McMurdo to the South Pole.  They actually have airport codes too: MCM and NPX.  The planes are military planes, and we are sitting on hammock-like seats.  They hand out earplugs in the beginning, and yes, it is loud!

 

 

Look what I found!

I was very excited to see this. Under the tarp, are two crates that I had said goodbye to back home in early November. For those of you who haven't followed my scientific activities for the last year, this is what I have been working on for the past nine months while putting nearly everything else on hold. For those of you wondering where I have been for these months, I was designing and building this detector with a team of superb physicists, engineers, and technicians. We had handed off these two crates to a shipping company to be sent off to Christchurch, then to the South Pole. This is what I came here to do, and if all goes well, this is what I will be doing for the next several years. They were supposed to get to the South Pole on their own some time last week. I knew they had gotten to Christchurch, but I didn't know exactly where there were. And here they are, in the back of the same plane that I am flying to McMurdo on!

I probably won't be able to resist writing about the science that we hope to do with these detectors, I will save that for later. For now, I am just happy to see them.

C-17

Here is what the inside of the plane looks like. This time I am flying with many more scientists, and there is a whole team of people who will be traveling to the Dry Valleys after spending ~ 1 week in McMurdo. They are jealous that I am going to the South Pole, I am jealous that they are going to the Dry Valleys, though I don't think any of us really want to switch places: we love what we do!

The plane has six rows of seats in the middle, but the rest of us are sitting along the side of the plane. Behind the six rows of seats are the cargo. Right now I am sitting next to some sort of vehicle with a label that says "Engines, Internal Combustion, Flammable Liquid Powered", and next to it, is a giant drum labeled "Liquid Oxygen".

Going south!

Yes, we are on our way! There were some concerns about the weather at McMurdo, but yes, we are on our way. We got on our shuttles at our B&B at 6:15 AM, arrived at the USAP (United States Antarctic Program) by 6:45 AM. After reshuffled some bags around, we checked our bags in, had breakfast, and here we are, waiting for our flight. After a short DVD about living in Antarctica, we were on our way!

Here is a photo of us waiting for our flight. After this, we walked through security just you do at a normal airport, boarded a shuttle, then onto a military plane. The experience is very different from last time when it was my first time, though I am still very excited. This I know exactly what's coming, and I'm definitely not taking nearly as many pictures. The excitement of those who are going for the first time is infectious though, and I think everyone still gets at least a tiny bit excited. Even those who have been there ten times like my colleague. Maybe you can find him in the photo: he has grey beard, wearing a green shirt, writing postcards.

You can see more photos by following the link on the right, you can also see photos from last year.

Clothing Distribution

Today was our clothing distribution day. If weather cooperates, we fly to McMurdo tomorrow. The drill was very similar to last year , though this year there were a lot more people, and now that I'm a "veteran", I didn't have to watch the info video. They were out of some of my sizes, so I ended up with mittens two sizes to large, gloves one size too big, and a different pair of glove in just the right size. Last year, I tried a bunch of combinations once I got there and ended up with something I didn't expect, I'm sure I will figure it out once I get there. The women's room was packed: it was nice to see that so many women are participating and in many cases leading in the antarctic program. One major difference from last year: I have carharts pants which are more like construction working pants instead of the ski bibs. I did like the ski bibs last year, I will give the carharts this year.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to check in at oh-seven-hundred hours.