Lake Vostok is, not to put too fine a point on it, big. The largest of more than a hundred sub-glacial lakes, it forms an area of 15,690 square kilometres (roughly the same as Lake Ontario) buried under 4,000 metres of pack-ice. Or at least it was, until scientists discovered it in 1973, and began drilling like white-coated woodpeckers. But now, with just 50 metres of ice left to penetrate, a race against time is a foot.
For while scientists are tantalizingly close to their goal of dipping a toe in the 15,000,000-year-old water, they have a deadline: February 6th. This is when the last plane takes off from Vostok station where they’re based: get a seat on that, or face a winter of minus 80º temperatures, with nothing to keep them entertained besides the middle two Harry Potter books and hooky R5 copy of Lord of the Rings.
The scientists have been close to their goal since 1996, but had to stop and solve the problem of mixing the new with the very old.
”We had to stop because of the concerns of possible contamination of the lake,” explained Alexey Ekaikin, a member of the current expedition.
They will now drill until a sensor detects free water, then pull out to regulate pressure so water from the lake will be sucked up and freeze, plugging the hole and avoiding contamination.
They have already discovered micro-organisms frozen in the ice. And while they didn’t say as much, they’re almost definitely expecting to find dinosaurs to be living on some kind of subterranean island. Hey – maybe even the big guy from Cloverfield.
Source: Project Magazine
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