Russia to Crack the Secrets of Antarctic Lake
Robin McKie
The Observer, UK
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Russian researchers are preparing to crack the secrets of a lake that has lain buried beneath a two-mile layer of Antarctic ice for 16 million years.
They believe its lessons could be crucial in deciphering climate change, developing new medicines and understanding how life might evolve on other worlds.
But the plan to drill into the lake has alarmed scientists in other countries who say the project is rushed, its technology is untested and it could pollute Lake Vostok's waters irretrievably.Microbiologist Dr Cynan Ellis-Evans, of the British Antarctic Survey, said:
'The Russian drillers have almost reached Lake Vostok, and their borehole is brimming with about 60 tonnes of kerosene, antifreeze and bacteria. If that leaked into the lake, it would ruin it. I have yet to see evidence that the proposed technology has been fully field-tested.'Antarctica's buried lakes were first discovered a decade ago by satellites and aircraft with powerful radar devices.
Previously it was thought the continent was too cold for water to exist in liquid form beneath its ice sheets.It is now realised that this ice acts as an insulating blanket which traps heat from the Earth's core, melting the base of the ice sheet. 'We now know there are more than 100 lakes like Lake Vostok in the Antarctic,' said Martin Siegert, professor of geography at Bristol University. 'However, Vostok is the oldest, biggest and most important.'
Nov 13, 2005
Robin McKie
The Observer, UK
_____________
Russian researchers are preparing to crack the secrets of a lake that has lain buried beneath a two-mile layer of Antarctic ice for 16 million years.
They believe its lessons could be crucial in deciphering climate change, developing new medicines and understanding how life might evolve on other worlds.
But the plan to drill into the lake has alarmed scientists in other countries who say the project is rushed, its technology is untested and it could pollute Lake Vostok's waters irretrievably.Microbiologist Dr Cynan Ellis-Evans, of the British Antarctic Survey, said:
'The Russian drillers have almost reached Lake Vostok, and their borehole is brimming with about 60 tonnes of kerosene, antifreeze and bacteria. If that leaked into the lake, it would ruin it. I have yet to see evidence that the proposed technology has been fully field-tested.'Antarctica's buried lakes were first discovered a decade ago by satellites and aircraft with powerful radar devices.
Previously it was thought the continent was too cold for water to exist in liquid form beneath its ice sheets.It is now realised that this ice acts as an insulating blanket which traps heat from the Earth's core, melting the base of the ice sheet. 'We now know there are more than 100 lakes like Lake Vostok in the Antarctic,' said Martin Siegert, professor of geography at Bristol University. 'However, Vostok is the oldest, biggest and most important.'
Nov 13, 2005
