Scientists Drill Into Lake Vostok After Millions of Years Without Light or Air

[Conley]

In the coldest spot on the earth’s coldest continent, Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling through more than two miles of solid ice, the scientists said on Wednesday.

A statement by the chief of the Vostok Research Station, A.M. Yelagin, released by the director of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, Valery Lukin, said the drill made contact with the lake water at a depth of 12, 366 feet. As planned, lake water under pressure rushed up the bore hole 100-130 feet pushing drilling fluid up and away from the pristine water, Mr. Yelagin said, and forming a frozen plug that will prevent contamination. Next Antarctic season the scientists will return to take samples of the water.

The first hint of contact with the lake was on Saturday, but it wasn’t until Sunday that pressure sensors showed that the drill had fully entered the lake. Lake Vostok, named after the Russian research station above it, is the largest of more than 280 lakes deep under the miles thick ice that covers most of the Antarctic continent, and the first one to have a drill bit break through to liquid water from the ice that has kept it sealed off from light and air for somewhere between 15 and 34 million years.

There have been much-disputed hints that life might still exist there. If so, that would give a great boost to hopes of finding life in similar conditions in icy water on one of the moons of Jupiter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/wo...ctic-lake.html

Does this remind anyone else of the start of a horror movie? Seriously though I hope some good findings come of this. It would be a shame to contaminate at a point in our history where our technology can't use these findings to the max potential. There aren't many places like this on the planet.

[MMC]

Winter weather to check and see if there is water under the ice. I'll pass. Even if they bottle it!

[Conley]

Ooh, yeah that would be some premium bottled water!

[MMC]

Ooh, yeah that would be some premium bottled water!

Until they find some.....Thing, In it!

[Mister D]

Deer Park that's good water!

[Captain Obvious]

I read about this the other day, environmentalists are freaking out because of the drilling method used. The "hot water" method is being recommended but it's slower and it will take longer to get there (took them 20 years to get this far).

Currently, reportedly, they're using freon and kerosene to lube the drill bits - tons of it.

Nothing like tapping into a never before breached region of our planet - and immediately poisoning it.

[Conley]

Yup:

"The Russian plan to prevent the drilling fluid from reaching the pristine lake water was to plug the bottom of the bore hole with an inert fluid, Freon, and to drill the final distance with a heated drill tip instead of a motorized drill. Enough kerosene would be removed to lessen the pressure in the bore hole so that when the lake was reached, lake water would flow up the bore hole, then freezing and forming an icy plug. That is exactly what happened, Russian scientists confirmed."


The Russians did all this themselves, they didn't want it to be international. It seems like an awful lot of time and expense to spend just on the hope of finding some microbes.