Session B1 - Cosmic Rays: From Knee to the Ankle and Beyond.
INVITED session, Saturday morning, April 28
Grand Ballroom North/Central, Renaissance Hotel
I briefly summarize the scientific motivations and the methods of high-energy neutrino telescopes. At the turn of the 3^rd Millennium we witness phenomenal progress towards establishing the field of high-energy neutrino astronomy. First generation neutrino telescopes not only proved the technology to deploy expandable, large volume detectors in natural environments, but also reported observation of atmospheric neutrinos in deep waters of Lake Baikal and the deep Antarctic ice at the South Pole. Already, limits constraining some astrophysical models have been produced by the AMANDA array consisting only 10 strings. Recently completed three times larger AMANDA-II array presents potential, for the first time, to see high energy neutrinos beyond the atmosphere, and validates plans for building a kilometer-scale detector (IceCube) in Antarctic ice. Several initiatives are underway to complement AMANDA in the northern hemisphere. The ANTARES project is preparing for deployment of a deep-sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean by 2003. Techniques are being developed for radio and acoustic detection to boost the capabilities of conventional optical arrays above energies of few PeV.