Antarctica's ice sheet serves as the detector for an unusual neutrino telescope, the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA), a project based at the South Pole. AMANDA seeks to map the sources of the ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos -- whether they come from active galactic nuclei, supernovae remnants, pulsars, neutron stars, or from elsewhere in or outside the galaxy. Such studies are at the forefront of the new field of neutrino astronomy.

The array already offers some provocative results. From a sample during the first nine months of observations, AMANDA has spotted about 12 particles that seem to be evidence of incoming neutrinos. This season, hot-water drillers will bore out holes to install seven new strings of detectors 2,000 meters deep, to join the four strings already embedded in the ice sheet.

Probing the Aurora When the sixth Automatic Geophysical Observatory is put into place in a remote location on the Antarctic ice cap this season, it will complete a network of instruments that take continuous measurements of the aurora and the polar ionosphere (the highest layer of the earth's atmosphere). The AGOs will furnish data that could otherwise be collected only by an entire flotilla of spacecraft.

Retrieving the Flare Genesis Telescope One of the world's largest solar telescopes circled Antarctica last year suspended from a giant balloon, and taking advantage of the 24-hour-long light, imaged sunspots and mapped associated magnetic fields which are believed to cause solar flares. The balloon was cut down above the Adelie Coast, 1400 kilometers from McMurdo Station, but foul weather permitted only the data recorder to be retrieved. This year, the French Antarctic program will assist the U.S. by mounting a traverse to recover the balloon payload, including the $10-million telescope.

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Contact: Lynn Simarski
lsimarsk@nsf.gov
703-306-1070
National Science Foundation
31-Oct-1996


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