Russians Reach Lake Vostok, Almost 4km Under Ice by Aaron Faunch

A Russian team achieves a world first as they reach a subterranean lake in the Antarctic whilst fighting off competition from the U.S and the U.K; but the race isn’t over yet.
 

Lake Vostok, one of the world’s largest lakes, lies under 4km of ice and measures 250km long and up to 50km wide. It has been hidden from the rest of the world for millions of years; until now.
 

Scientists speculate about the conditions in the lake and whether they are compatible with life. If life forms are found, they are expected to be unique microbes that could improve our understanding of the threshold of life on our own Planet as well as implications for life on other worlds.
 

"This will give us the possibility to biologically evaluate the evolution of living organisms... because those organisms spent a long time without contact with the atmosphere, without sunlight," says Valery Lukin, from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg.

On the surface all food chains are supported by Photosynthesis, the process that produces energy from sunlight. But there is no light under 4km of ice; animals, however, at the deep see vents also survive without sunlight. Here the food chain is supported by organisms called Chemoautotrophs that, instead of sunlight, produce energy by using molecules like methane or hydrogen sulphide.
 

The drilling ceased on the 5th February and most of the team have now left before the arrival of the Antarctic winter. The temperatures are freezing at the isolated Vostok station where the Russian scientists have been working. The lowest ever recorded temperatures on earth where recorded here, reaching lows of -89 degrees Celsius in 1983.
 

Vostok station, situated above Lake Vostok, is one of the remotest places on the earth. Located near the south Geometric pole, at the centre of the East Antarctic ice sheet; before using aeroplanes, it used to take an agonising month long journey by truck from the cost, almost 1400km away, for the station to receive supplies.
 

The finding of the lake occurred in the early 1960’s when Soviet Antarctic Expedition pilots observed an extremely flat area near the ice. Conformation came later in the early 1970’s when British scientists performed ice-penetrating radar surveys identifying liquid water. It was complete luck that the Station, having been established in 1957, was built near the site. A fortunate accident meant drilling could begin without too much difficulty. 

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Race Against Time for Raiders of the Lost Lake by Quirin Schiermeier

 

Arguably the most exciting — and certainly the most controversial — scientific endeavor in Antarctica's history is close to a breakthrough.

A Russian drilling team is just metres away from reaching the water surface of Lake Vostok, the largest and deepest of the freshwater lakes hidden beneath Antarctica's massive ice sheet.

The ambitious project, launched more than 20 years ago, has been repeatedly delayed by technical glitches and funding problems (see Nature 464, 472–473; 2010). But Russian researchers, who on 2 January resumed drilling at a depth of 3,650 metres, believe that just 20–40 metres or so of accretion ice — frozen lake water — now separate them from the lake's liquid surface. "We can make it this time," Valery Lukin, director of the Russian Antarctic programme, told Nature. 

 But time is short. Although the drill can advance by about 3 metres each day, the team must call a halt by 6 February, when the last aircraft of the summer research season is due to leave the Vostok research station, about 1,300 kilometres from the South Pole (see 'Drill for victory'). If they haven't reached the lake by then, they will have to wait until December to continue, Lukin says.

The chance of sampling one of the last uncharted environments on Earth has excited researchers ever since the lake's existence was first mooted in the 1970s. Many are thrilled by the possibility of discovering evidence of unique life forms in the lake, which is thought to have formed as much as 35 million years ago. But others worry that the drilling effort could contaminate an untouched environment. The lake may hold traces of ancient microorganisms that could reveal how life on Earth has adapted to extreme conditions.

At the Vostok station, tension is rising with every passing day. The team hopes that a sensor attached to the drill head will signal contact with liquid water in the next few weeks. At that point, the drill will be stopped and extracted from the bore hole, thereby lowering the pressure beneath it and drawing water into the hole. This should prevent any of the silicone drilling lubricant from entering the lake, explains Lukin. The rising water will rapidly freeze in the borehole, where drillers can extract it without penetrating the pristine lake. "If everything goes according to plan, we will re-core the hole in December and retrieve the frozen sample without polluting the lake water," he says

continue @ nature.com 

Missing scientists mystery deepens in Frozen Antarctica by Jeremy A. Kaplan

                                                NASA photo of Lake Vostok in Antarctica

The world holds its breath, hoping for the best after six days of radio silence from Antarctica -- where a team of Russian scientists is racing the clock and the oncoming winter to dig to an alien lake far beneath the ice.

The team from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) have been drilling for weeks in an effort to reach isolated Lake Vostok, a vast, dark body of water hidden 13,000 ft. below the surface of the icy continent. Lake Vostok hasn't been exposed to air in more than 20 million years.

The team’s last contact with colleagues in the unfrozen world was six long days ago, and scientists from around the globe are unsure of the fate of the mission -- and the scientists themselves -- as Antarctica’s killing winter draws near.

“When you’re outside, it’s extremely cold -- minus 30, minus  40,” microbiologist Dr. David A. Pearce told FoxNews.com. “If you left your eyes open the fluid in them would start to freeze. Your nostrils would start to freeze. The moisture in your mouth would start to freeze,” he said.

Pearce heads a team from the British Antarctic Survey on a competing mission, set to plumb the depths of Lake Ellsworth, one of a string of more than 370 lakes beneath Antarctica that may soon see light for the first time since well before Fred Flintstone’s ancestors roamed the planet. But time is running out for the Russian scientists.

“They need to be out by the 6th of February,” Pearce said, when winter sets in and temperatures drop another 40 degrees centigrade. Vostok Station boasts the lowest recorded temperature on Earth: -129 degrees Fahrenheit (-89.4 degrees Celsius).

The Russian scientists have been communicating with Pearce and colleagues at a third Antarctic expedition -- a study of the subglacial Whillans Ice Stream mainly featuring U.S. scientists. The competing teams have been watching the Russians and sharing notes over the past few days, Pearce told FoxNews.com -- yet no one knows what has happened.

“We’re all waiting with bated breath,” he said.

continue @ foxnews.com

Lake Vostok, Antarctica's Largest Subglacial Body Of Water, Soon To Be Explored

Deep beneath miles of Antarctic ice lies a large freshwater lake that will soon be exposed for the first time in millions of years.

Lake Vostok, which is the largest of Antarctica's subglacial lakes and also one of the largest lakes in the world, has not been touched by light for over 20 million years, according to The Washington Post.

A team of Russian scientists is poised to penetrate the lake next week and begin probing for signs of life. The harsh weather conditions on the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet mean that drilling through over two miles of ice has been an arduous process spanning two decades, explained The Washington Post.

Unfortunately for the scientists, their job won't be much easier once they drill the final 40 feet into the lake. Discover magazine explains that concerns are growing about preventing bacterial contamination of the "pristine" lake.

Even more menacing is the threat of a geyser-like explosion. The lake reportedly contains "quite a bit of gas," meaning that an explosion could occur if the pressure isn't released carefully. In fact, a large geyser could send enough water vapor to the surface to alter Antarctica's weather.

John Priscu, an antarctic researcher at Montana State University told The Washington Post, "This is a huge moment for science and exploration, breaking through to this enormous lake that we didn't even know existed until the 1990s."

Elsewhere in Antarctica, a team of British scientists is preparing to drill down to another subglacial lake later this year. British Antarctic Survey scientists staged over 70 tons of equipment above Lake Ellsworth last month in preparation for drilling in November.

But the British team isn't very concerned with beating the Russians, reports OurAmazingPlanet. The head of the British project, Martin Siegert, said, "It's not a race for penetrating a glacial lake. We're not adventurers. We're doing science. There are questions we're asking and trying to answer."

Even so, there is still a chance the Russians will not reach the lake on schedule. In January 2011, the Russian team was allegedly within 20 to 40 meters of penetrating Lake Vostok, according to Nature.

The Russian team had to quit, however, and grab the last flight off the ice before winter hit one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, reported OurAmazingPlanet.

Continue @ huffingtonpost.com