Scientists say Antarctic lake worth a look-see

Lake Vostok, buried beneath the Antarctica ice, may contain undiscovered microbial life forms.

August 13, 1999
Web posted at: 12:51 p.m. EDT (1651 GMT)

The possible existence of microbes unknown to science residing in the liquid waters of Lake Vostok beneath the Antarctic ice sheet justifies exploration of the sub-glacial environment, according an Aug. 3 National Science Foundation report.

The scientists believe that the sub-glacial environment may resemble the environment of Jupiter's moon Europa. Recent images of Europa have led scientists to believe that an ocean lies beneath the ice that covers the moon.

"The thick cover of ice over a liquid ocean may be a fertile site for life. The Antarctica sub-glacial lakes have similar basic boundary conditions to Europa," according to the final report on the foundation's Lake Vostok Workshop.

Thus, if life is able to exist in the depths of Lake Vostok, then life may exist on Europa and other extreme environments elsewhere in the solar system, the scientists concluded at the workshop held Nov. 8-9, 1998, in Washington, D.C.

Lake Vostok is roughly the size of Lake Ontario in the United States. Vostok Station — a Russian scientific outpost is located in the vicinity of the lake.

As part of a joint U.S., French and Russian research project, Russian teams have drilled down into the ice covering the lake, producing the world's deepest ice core. But drilling was deliberately stopped roughly 120 meters above where the ice and liquid water meet to prevent possible contamination.

If life is able to exist in the depths of Lake Vostok, then life may exist on Europa and other extreme environments elsewhere in the solar system, scientists say

The report concludes that Lake Vostok merits further scientific investigation, including devising a way to drill through the ice sheet to reach the water — and lake-bottom sediments — without contaminating them.

Besides searching for unknown life forms, the lake offers other scientific reasons for exploration. Water below the ice, which has been cut off from the outside world for hundreds of thousands of years, may have a unique chemical composition.

There may also be an active tectonic rift below the lake, which may be warming its waters. Or sediments at the lake bottom may contain a record of ancient climate conditions.

Robin E. Bell, a geophysicist and a co-editor of the report, says it "illustrates the emerging importance of the lake for understanding the processes that may have triggered the evolutionary explosion on Earth and perhaps on other planets as well as deciphering the geologic history of Antarctica."

The National Science Foundation will send a delegation of scientists to a meeting of the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, scheduled for September in Cambridge, England.

At that meeting, scientists will discuss the scientific objectives of sub-glacial lake exploration and will examine the logistical and engineering requirements for exploring the lake.

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