Project Title

Management and operations of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory 2021-2026

Summary

Event Number:
A-333-S
NSF / OPP Award 2042807

Program Director:
Dr. Vladimir Papitashvili

ASC POC/Implementer:
Paul Sullivan / Sheryl Seagraves / Leah Street

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Francis Halzen
halzen@icecube.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department of Physics
Madison, Wisconsin

Project Web Site:
https://icecube.wisc.edu/

Location

Supporting Stations: South Pole Station
Research Locations: South Pole Station: IceCube Laboratory

Description

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO) is located at the South Pole Station in the deep ice. The ICNO’s Management & Operations (M&O) core team of researchers and engineers maintain the existing neutrino detector infrastructure at the South Pole and home institution, guaranteeing an uninterrupted stream of scientifically unique, high-quality data. The M&O activities are built upon more than a decade successful experience of managing the overall ICNO operations after completing the NSF-funded major research facility IceCube project where hardware and software systems were developed and deployed by the core team on schedule and within budget. Effective coordination of efforts by the M&O personnel and from within the IceCube Collaboration has yielded significant increases in the performance of this cubic-kilometer detector with time. The broader impacts of the ICNO/M&O activities are strong, involving postdocs and students in day-by-day operation and calibration of the cubic-km neutrino detector. The extraordinary physics results produced by ICNO in the past decade and its extraordinary location at the South Pole have a high potential to excite the imagination of high school students and the public in general at a national and international level.

Field Season Overview

On-site fieldwork for the upcoming season includes Maintenance and Operations improvements to the existing IceCube infrastructure located at the South Pole Station: 1) Winterover training and transition; 2) ICL firewall lifecycle replacement; 3) ICL remote power distribution unit replacements; 4) Disposal of old UPSs and lead-acid batteries; 5) On-ice DAQ support and DOMHub maintenance; 6) Replacement of archival data hard-drives; 7) ICL upwind drift management; 8) Construction of snow access ramp in front of ICL; 9) Annual survey of designated IceTop tanks; 10) IceTop marker pole extensions and maintenance; 11) IceACT upgrade; 12) ARA DAQ maintenance; 13) ICL mini wind turbine maintenance; and 14) Surface array antenna maintenance;15) Vault extension for ARA station A2. IceCube Upgrade integration and support activities including: 1) Termination of 50A power drops over rack-14; 2) Installation of rack-14 upgrade equipment; 3) Field support for upgrade cable pull; and 4) Upgrade DOM testing support.

Deploying Team Members