Russian Team Prepares To Penetrate Lake Vostok

Lanxon writes "Lake Vostok, which has been sealed off from the world for 14 million years, is about to be penetrated by a Russian drill bit. The lake, which lies four kilometers below the icy surface of Antarctica, is unique in that it's been completely isolated from the other 150 subglacial lakes on the continent for such a long time. It's also oligotropic, meaning that it's supersaturated with oxygen — levels of the element are 50 times higher than those found in most typical freshwater lakes."

Comments

Did You Even Read the Article?

[eldavojohn]

I fail to see the need to drill to this lake so far below the surface. For one thing I would be worried about bringing back up who knows what with organisms and bacteria that we have not seen before that could be dangerous, also don't you think they would be contaminating this lake by drilling into it?

From the article:

Now, the team has satisfied the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, which safeguards the continent's environment, that it's come up with a technique to sample the lake without contaminating it. Valery Lukin told New Scientist: "Once the lake is reached, the water pressure will push the working body and the drilling fluid upwards in the borehole, and then freeze again." The next season, the team will bore into that frozen water to recover a sample whose contents can then be analysed.

I think it's similar to this mission at Lake Ellsworth.

Re:Did You Even Read the Article?

[mdielmann]

I fail to see the need to drill to this lake so far below the surface. For one thing I would be worried about bringing back up who knows what with organisms and bacteria that we have not seen before that could be dangerous, also don't you think they would be contaminating this lake by drilling into it?

From the article:

Now, the team has satisfied the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, which safeguards the continent's environment, that it's come up with a technique to sample the lake without contaminating it. Valery Lukin told New Scientist: "Once the lake is reached, the water pressure will push the working body and the drilling fluid upwards in the borehole, and then freeze again." The next season, the team will bore into that frozen water to recover a sample whose contents can then be analysed.

I think it's similar to this mission at Lake Ellsworth.

So is it going to freeze before it hits the top of the bore then? If not that means we're releasing whatever is in that water into our environment. That could be really really bad any way you look at it. I'm not hopeful enough that it could release something giving us extreme life-extensions.

So, drilling a hole in the ground and sucking out millions of barrels of hydrocarbons, which have been isolated for thousands (or millions) of years, as well as any organisms living there is fine. Collecting a sample from a lake that has been isolated for thousands of years for research is the beginning of the apocalypse? I can only assume you're quite concerned about the Large Hadron Collider, as well.

In Soviet....

[tverbeek]

In Soviet Antarctica, buried lake penetrates drill hole!

Seriously. RTFA.

Re:Anybody else feel like this is a bad idea?

[bluefoxlucid]

To be fair, theory and practice are in theory identical; in practice, not so much.

Re:Look Up

[vgerclover]

Never drink and slashdot.

Re:You think your working conditions are bad...

[Shompol]

When it is -30C, Russians take their towels and beach umbrellas, drill a hole in the ice and go swimming.
When it becomes -65C they cannot find any water in liquid state, so someone came up with this bright idea to drill a hole to an ancient lake, just so they can have a pool in winter.

Re:Look Up

[mswhippingboy]

Would it be impolite to point out that she has accomplished far more in life than you or I have, or probably ever will? If Sarah Palin is dumb, therefore, there's a significantly greater than zero chance that you and I are even dumber.

That is based on the ridiculous notion that intelligence equates to fame. To make this point, I only have two words - "Jersey Shore".