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MOSCOW — Russian researchers said Monday that they had succeeded in drilling through four kilometres (2.5 miles) of ice to the surface of a sub-glacial Antarctic lake which could yield important scientific discoveries.
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica and scientists want to study its eco-system which has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years under the ice in the hope of finding previously unknown microbiological life forms.
"Our scientists completed drilling at a depth of 3,768 metres and reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake," an unnamed source told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Sergei Lesenkov, spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute, told AFP that there was the possibility of a "fundamental scientific development".
Lesenkov said that analysis of the composition of gas bubbles discovered in the ice above the lake could help climate change research.
"Because the lower layer was formed 400,000 years ago, from the composition of the gas it is possible to judge the gas composition in the atmosphere 400,000 years ago and during the time that has passed since the formation of the lake," he said.
Russian scientists reach isolated subglacial lake
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Scientific research drilling in the area started in 1989 and the lake's existence was confirmed in 1996. But efforts to reach its surface were suspended two years later amid fears that the process could contaminate the waters.
- 4 votes
#1 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 12:32 PM EST
After developing new techniques in an attempt to ease environmental concerns, attempts to drill down through the deep ice sheet to the lake's surface resumed.
It doesn't really say that they did not, in fac,t contaminate the waters though, did it? I sure hope that they did not! Very interesting. Thanks, Colorado Bob
- 5 votes
#2 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 12:54 PM ESTFIN -
They are Russians, stopping for a few years to think about it is pretty good.
12,323 feet
- 5 votes
FIN,
From everything that I've read, Russian scientists took a very careful approach.
And virtually no one expects that they succeeded in eliminating all possible contamination.
So there's that. The alternative was to just not go there at all. But after 20 years of work, involving multiple countries and research teams, 'not going there' just wasn't going to happen. Another team will be accessing Vostok Lake next winter - and others will probably follow.
It will be most interesting to see what they find.
Good seed, CO Bob. Hope the weather holds out for them for just a bit longer. Next winter, when robots are introduced into the lake, we should see some very interesting developments.
- 8 votes
It was going to be drilled, I have 50 cents that says there are thermophiles in the water.
It is pretty exciting , like going to Jupiter's moons.
- 4 votes
Hope the weather holds out for them for just a bit longer.
So do I! I also hope that their caution does provide them with a pristine environment. While the detailed knowledge is not mine, the curiosity is undaunted. People such as I depend upon giving people such as yourselves to keep us in the loop. Thank you!
- 4 votes
From everything that I've read, Russian scientists took a very careful approach.
And virtually no one expects that they succeeded in eliminating all possible contamination.
Physicist-retired makes excellent points in the above quote from his comment #2.2.
I am very curious about what they find, but I also hope they don't contaminate the lake. It would be even worse if they bring up some live bacteria or virus that our immune system can't fight and start a world epidemic, if that's possible.
But I'm confident these scientists who know much more about such things than I do are taking lots of precautions.
- 6 votes
Look -
The Russians stopped for years and hopefully gave some thought to what they were about to do. That's all we have. On the other hand, they are the poorest drillers in the world . Yet they, not us, drill in a place no one has ever dreamed of.
- 4 votes
On the other hand, they are the poorest drillers in the world . Yet they, not us, drill in a place no one has ever dreamed of.
The Russians
- 2 votes
CO Bob
I have 50 cents that says there are thermophiles in the water.
The definition of a thermophile is an organization that lives in a temperature zone of 45-122C. Are you proposing the lake is this warm?
The Antarctic is a seismically area and it is possible they may find vents similar to the mid-ocean vents. Is this what you are describing?
I would find it more exciting to find life at just above 0C as there are more places in the universe that are cold than warm!
- 4 votes
#4 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 2:52 PM ESTSorry -
I'm saying a cold loving world of bacteria, and thermal vents are possible, ......... 12,000 feet of ice makes me think the rock under it is certainly cracked
- 5 votes
Hi Everyone
I am not tech savvy in this arena like the rest of you are, but I am interested in this kind of stuff. I think it is fascinating that we are now capable of judging the gas composition in the atmosphere of 400,000 years ago.
- 5 votes
#5 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 5:44 PM ESTPonGoad, I have a driving interest (nosy curiosty) in this sort of thing without having the required ability in some instances to process the data. Consider, if you will, the time frame of 400,000 years and the life expectancy of a man today stands at 79-80 years. The shear magnitude of the time for this is overwhelming until you consider that the earth itself is estimated at 3,800,000,000 years young. Just fascinating!
- 6 votes
#6 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 6:04 PM ESTI seeded an article last week , when they announced they were about to tag bottom. Everything about this is amazing. The location of the hole is as far away from everything as men can get , and still have their feet on the Earth.
- 6 votes
#7 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 6:21 PM ESTOne more thing, we just remembered the 100th Anniv. of the race to the Pole. It is fitting the Russians did this one hundred years after Scott, and Amundsen raced for fame.
- 4 votes
Colorado Bob, I went to the site here and it is again fascinating. I have trouble wrapping my mind around the time frames. Consider how long the dinosaurs roamed the earth and then stick man's existence up against that then consider that they were brutish animals following instinct for millions of years. Man, a sentient being, has by virtue of that ability seemingly sealed his own doom by manipulation of that which will ultimately destroy him.
- 5 votes
FIN -
PR quakes before what we now know, as do I . He's an old PHD, and I'm an old artist.
- 5 votes
He's an old PHD, and I'm an old artist.
We both see the world as it is, art and science never lost that , to see the world as it is.
- 4 votes
FIN -
The Kicker ........ I understand science better than he understands art.
Call it the gift of the artist.
- 3 votes
#8 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 9:27 PM ESTIn our culture, it's Art and Science , not Science and Art.
- 3 votes
Case in point ......... Altamira Spain, perhaps the greatest art man ever made, long before math & PHD's.
Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of artifacts from the Upper Solutrean (c. 18,500 years ago)
- 3 votes
Case in point ......... Altamira Spain, perhaps the greatest art man ever made, long before math & PHD's.........
- 3 votes
#9 - Mon Feb 6, 2012 9:54 PM ESTCBob...
what a wonderful thread! Yes... artists came first. They are the true observers.
- 2 votes
#11 - Tue Feb 7, 2012 10:35 AM ESTInteresting subthread, CO Bob.
Fire was used by human ancestors for at least 1.6 million years - maybe longer. I'd argue that the understanding of how to create and use fire (especially for tool-making) was a primitive form of science.
Of course, music (and perhaps art) probably predate that.
Let's just say that human intelligence has been trying to figure out the natural working of our environment (science), and had an appreciation of beauty (art) since just about the very beginning.
In my study at home, I have a stone hand axe from Olduvai Gorge, dated to 1,000,000 years old. One of my bathrooms is wallpapered with scenes from Lascaux. I am the proud owner of an Escher (Regular Division of the Plane III, in China Red). And I come from a long line of jazz musicians, who made sure that I began to play instruments at such a young age that I honestly don't remember learning how to read music.
I appreciate all human works of higher intelligence ;-)
- 4 votes
#12 - Tue Feb 7, 2012 11:08 AM ESTI have a stone hand axe from Olduvai Gorge, dated to 1,000,000 years old
Is it legal for an individual to possess an antiquity like that? Shouldn't it be in a museum?
- 1 vote
#13 - Tue Feb 7, 2012 2:33 PM ESTShouldn't it be in a museum?
It might end up in one someday. It depends on whether the kids would like the axe or the money when I'm gone. Their call.
I buy numerous antiquities from places like Sadigh Gallery - things like this, this, this, this, this, this, and many others. I've been collecting them for decades.
Here's an example of a hand axe. Mine is nicer - their stock must be low right now.
That's the same way museums buy antiquities. It's completely legal.
- 5 votes
Ha , ...
Thanks for those nuggets PR. Good point about fire , and how we caught it.
- 3 votes
PS -
You whacked me with the French cave wall paper.
Check and mate.
- 2 votes
I have a stone hand axe from Olduvai Gorge, dated to 1,000,000 years old
In the Olduvai, ........ Castor, there are tens of thousands of these laying around .
They're not that rare, what's rare, is knowing the people who bring them back.
- 3 votes
#14 - Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:57 PM ESTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
