MessageToEagle.com - Deep beneath the great Antarctic ice sheet, there is a fascinating but unknown treasure
of this planet - Lake Vostok.
Scientists have long tried to get into the lake because its extreme environment may be home to unique flora
and fauna, never seen before.
As much as four kilometers of ice stand between the lake and the surface, and breaking this seal without contaminating the
most pristine body of water on the planet is possibly one of the greatest challenges science faces in the 21st century.
The Russian research and expedition vessel "Akademik Fyodorov" has just arrived at St.Petersburg port with frozen samples
from one of the most fascinating lakes of this planet - Lake Vostok.
Now, the scientists will begin a thorough examination of the frozen samples from Antarctica's lake.
Perhaps at least some of the hidden surprises of the Lake Vostok will be revealed soon.
Lake Vostok has been preserved under the ice in the Antarctic Region for millions of years. The work to drill a hole
3.768 metres deep, has been going on, with breaks, since 1990.
A team of Russian scientists was the first to reach the ice shield to the surface of Lake Vostok early in February this year.
During the time of drillings, they searched for frozen water samples taken from the under-ice lake.
It may happen that unknown to the scientific community, creatures, will be found in the samples. Perhaps they do not
have "relatives" in other parts of our planet and are as alien as those on other planets in the Universe.
The Russian research vessel Akademik Fyodorov has arrived at St.Petersburg port with frozen samples.
Photo Credits: Photo: RIA Novosti
In 1957, the Russian scientists established a remote base in Antarctica – the Vostok station - a Russian scientific outpost
sitting over the south end of the lake at the precise geomagnetic South Pole.
Russian scientists at Vostok Station discovered the lake and soon realized the lake's uniqueness and potential.
Over the years, the Russian scientists here have endured temperatures colder than parts of Mars!
Scientists from Russia's research station in the Antarctic. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
"In the most ambitious drilling program ever undertaken on the southernmost continent, the Russian scientists
produced the world's deepest ice core, " wrote Los Angeles Times in their article
"containing an irreplaceable chemical record of more than 400,000 years of Earth's changing climate and atmosphere.
They did not learn of the lake's existence or appreciate its importance until the project neared completion.
But in 1998, as the drill reached within a hundred yards of the surface of the lake, they deliberately stopped.
No one wanted to risk contaminating the water…" informed in 2001.
The ice cap cross section at Vostok shows the existing Russian research
station and the bore hole that scientists studying the ancient climate have drilled to within a few hundred
feet of the lake. R. E. Bell / M. Studinger, 2001
However, working in Antarctica's incredibly harsh climate - it's a tough job, in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
with the lowest (minus 89 Celsius !) ever temperature on the planet.
Fuel and food are pulled overland by tractors about 900 miles from the coast but all kinds of mechanical
breakdowns can sometimes prevent the overland tractor trains from reaching Vostok.
Handout of a supply convoy arriving at the Vostock research camp in Antarctica. Photo Credits: Reuters
An artist's representation of the aquatic system scientists believe is buried beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.
Credit: Zina Deretsky / NSF
When the supply column stalled halfway to Vostok, the U.S. Air National Guard airlifted emergency supplies to
keep the Russian supply train moving!
Scientists believe that researching the lake will provide vital information
about early life on Earth, and life how life might plausibly exist on distant planets and moons.
Moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and possibly Mars itself, are thought to conceal similar lakes beneath their icy surfaces.
"I think we'll find unique organisms," said Dr. John Priscu , Professor of ecology at Montana State University and a
veteran Antarctic researcher.
"We do not know what is waiting for us down there," Valery Lukin, chief of the Russian Antactic Expedition, said.
But all efforts were worth taking and now, it's time to wait for results of this hard work.
Lake Vostok gives us an opportunity to look for alien organisms. Astrobiologists are also very interested in these results.
Conditions in Lake Vostok and other similar Antarctic lakes
may be similar to those in the liquid water bodies believed to exist under the surfaces of Jupiter's icy moon Europa
and Enceladus, the moon of Saturn.
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