Currently 19 IceCube staff are at the South Pole Station although 25 were expected to be there by this time. Weather conditions in McMurdo and at the South Pole Station have grounded passenger and cargo flights to Pole. No passenger or cargo flights have landed at the South Pole Station since October 31st. The attached photos were taken on Saturday afternoon (November 3) around 3:30 PM. Ironically, the sky in the pictures does not convey the weather conditions at Pole or McMurdo that have interrupted the flight schedules.
Regular seasonal meetings have begun for the drillers and staff, including the first "All Hands" meeting. This meeting was held to introduce Raytheon Polar Services team leaders and also to convey information regarding living, working, and safety issues, while on Station.
Site preparation is underway with an initial bulldozer pass within the boundaries of the Seasonal Equipment Site (SES) prior to the arrival of the first drillers. The dozer operators maintained a conservative distance from the Modular Deployment Structures (MDSs) to avoid damaging protruding components such as hose or electrical connections. Drillers have worked on-site to clear snow from the windows and doors of the MDSs assisting in the clean-up tasks. More dozer activity is required before hoses and electrical supply cables can be run. In addition, preparations are taking place to provide power to the SES from the generators that were stored over the winter and from the new generators that are scheduled for delivery.
Eight IceTop tanks will be relocated from their storage site as soon as snow grading and site preparation is completed at the SES. An additional 21 IceTop tanks will arrive during the first and second weeks of November, weather permitting.
The previous season's winterovers will leave the Station after handing over their responsibilities to the new winterovers. The new winterovers and the AMANDA team members went through the MAPO (Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory) and the ICL (IceCube Lab) to get a feeling of the current state of the equipment. This includes CPUs, tape drives, power supplies, and backup power supplies.
Other activities await the arrival more staff and further site preparation.