RICE at the Pole
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The RICE (Radio Ice Cerenkov Experiment) at the South Pole
RICE is a high-energy neutrino telescope using the 9300'-thick polar ice cap as the detection medium.

RICE is a sister experiment to the much, much larger AMANDA experiment except that RICE detects radio waves and AMANDA detects light resulting from muons produced by neutrino/nuclei interactions.  An animated video describes the AMANDA experiment; substitute radio-frequency energy for light and you have the RICE experiment.

Installation of the massive IceCube detector is now beginning, filling a cubic kilometer of ice with light sensors.  A second generation of RICE is also in development, although on a very much smaller scale.


The MAPO building, named for the telescope that is visible. (The telescope is unrelated; RICE detectors are buried in the ice.) The electronics and computers for RICE are located in the MAPO building.

The Data Acquisition system for RICE.

Dave Besson, RICE PI, at work on the Data Acquisition System.

Drillers using steel drills making test holes in advance of hot-water drilling for 'IceCube', the massive optical neutrino telescope.

The 'neutrino trap' was built by some good-natured jesters at MAPO.

The Solar John and local transport for MAPO.