First South Pole impressions

Dag Toppe Larsen

2

Passing through Singapore

● UL: Singapore parliament with modern buildings in background

● UR: canal with new and old buildings

● LL: interesting building with “ship” on top

3

Christchurch

● UR: flowers, will not see any more of those for long time...

● LL: canal in the botanical garden

● LR: outside hotel, “typical New Zealand”?

4

Flying to McMurdo

● UL: entering C17● UR: interior of plane

with cargo and some passengers

● LR: view of the wing while flying

5

Arriving at McMurdo

● UL: exiting plane at McMurdo, runway is on ice

● LL: cargo from plane being loaded on trucks

● LR: typical view of McMurdo

6

Around McMurdo

● UL: Scott's hut, used for preparations for expedition

● UR: frozen coast line with mountains

● LR: either a seal or a sea lion (zoomed in from previous picture)

7

Around McMurdo (II)

● UL: me with McMurdo and Scott's hut in the background

● UR: a mountain on other side of frozen sea

● LR: view of McMurdo from nearby mountain (right in UL picture)

8

Flying to South Pole

● UR: ready to take off in a C130 (Hercules) with skies

● LL: interior of plane with cargo and passengers

● LR: propellers over mountain range

9

View from flight to South Pole

● UR: mountains close to sea

● LL: mountains surrounded by ice, about halfway to Pole

● LR: same mountain range as LL from other side of plane

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Arriving at South Pole

● UL: our plane shortly after arriving

● UR: first sight of South Pole Station

● LL: initial view of ice desert after landing

11

Cargo arriving at IceCube Lab

● UR: IceCube Lab, where all data is acquired, cables are coming up in the two towers

● LL: bulldozer picking up cargo

● LR: delivery from snow ramp

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View from top of IceCube Lab

● UL: view of South Pole Station in the background

● UR: South Pole Telescope

● LR: O(10^3)km till something else than ice...

13

Ceremonial South Pole

● UL: flags at the ceremonial South Pole (not the geographical)

● LL: flags seen from other side with South Pole Station in background

● LR: shiny sphere in the centre made nice mirror

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Geographical South Pole

● UL: the “real” South Pole, moves about 10m every year

● UR: marker for where the geographical South Pole was 1st January

● LL: South Pole Station seen from geographical South Pole

15

Outside South Pole Station

● UL: welcome to the South Pole Station...!

● LL: seen from the other side, the dormitories

● LR: the pillars elevating the station

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Around South Pole Station

● UL: entrance to underground storage and workshops

● UR: ground-level buildings and storage

● LR: snow shaped by the wind

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View from South Pole Station

● UL: IceCube Lab and South Pole Telescope about 1 km away

● UR: South Pole Telescope (zoomed in)

● LR: IceCube Lab (zoomed in), the ramp for cargo delivery to the left

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Inside South Pole Station

● UL: the dining hall● LL: the green house

(might not be operational this winter)

● LR: an IceCube photomultiplier on display at the entrance

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Inside South Pole Station (II)

● UR: a typical longitudinal hall way inside the station

● LL: social room● LR: local “cinema”

20

Recreation

● UL: gymnasium● UR: band practice

room with lots of different instruments

● LL: “art and craft” room

21

My world

● UL: my room● UR: view from

window● LR: science lab,

shared between several experiments, IceCube in the middle