- After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years -- a lake that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.
- Reaching Lake Vostok is a major discovery avidly anticipated by scientists around the world hoping that it may allow a glimpse into microbial life forms, not visible to the naked eye, that existed before the Ice Age. It may also provide precious material that would help look for life on the ice-crusted moons of Jupiter and Saturn or under Mars' polar ice caps where conditions could be similar.
- "It's like exploring another planet, except this one is ours," Columbia University glaciologist Robin Bell told The Associated Press by email.
- Scientists hope to find primeval bacteria that could expand the human knowledge of the origins of life.
- Lake Vostok is 250 kilometres long and 50 kilometres across at its widest point, similar in area to Lake Ontario. It lies about 3.8 kilometres beneath the surface and is the largest in a web of nearly 400 known subglacial lakes in Antarctica. The lake is warmed underneath by geothermal energy.
- The project, however, has drawn strong fears that 60 metric tons of lubricants and antifreeze used in the drilling may contaminate the pristine lake. The Russian researchers have insisted the bore would only slightly touch the lake's surface and that a surge in pressure will send the water rushing up the shaft where it will freeze, immediately sealing out the toxic chemicals.
- Scientists believe that microbial life may exist in the dark depths of the lake despite its high pressure and constant cold -- conditions similar to those expected to be found under the ice crust on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's move Enceladus.
- Some scientists hope that studies of Lake Vostok and other subglacial lakes will advance knowledge of Earth's own climate and help predict its changes.
- In the future, Russian researchers plan to explore the lake using an underwater robot equipped with video cameras that would collect water samples and sediments from the bottom of the lake, a project still awaiting the approval of the Antarctic Treaty organization.
- While temperatures on the Vostok Station on the surface above have registered the coldest ever recorded on Earth, reaching minus 89 degrees Celsius, the water in the lake is warmed by the giant pressure of the ice crust and geothermal energy underneath.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Russia scientists reach 20-million-year-old freshwater lake Vostok
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