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Scientists Drill Into 3,500 Feet of Ice To Reach a Mysterious Antarctic Lake (gizmodo.com)
Late last week, a team of about 50 scientists, drillers, and support staff successfully punched through nearly 4,000 feet of ice to access an Antarctic subglacial lake for just the second time in human history. From a report: On Friday, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) team announced they'd reached Lake Mercer after melting their way through an enormous frozen river with a high-pressure, hot-water drill. The multi-year effort to tap into the subglacial lake -- one of approximately 400 scientists have detected across Antarctica -- offers a rare opportunity to study the biology and chemistry of the most isolated ecosystems on Earth. The only other subglacial lake humans have drilled into -- nearby Lake Whillans, sampled in 2013 -- demonstrated that these extreme environments can play host to diverse microbial life. Naturally, scientists are stoked to see what they'll find lurking in Lake Mercer's icy waters. "We don't know what we'll find," John Priscu, a biogeochemist at Montana State University and chief scientist for SALSA, told Earther via satellite phone from the SALSA drill camp on the Whillans Ice Plain. "We're just learning, it's only the second time that this has been done."
Good to see a refreshing change to the usual space "exploration" stories.
Maybe it's time for slashdot to start using the metric system...
There is no more ice on either poles, Al Gore said they would be ice free by 2006. Any ice that "might" be there is paper thin and this isn't to be questioned, its settled science. No way there could possibly be 3500 feet depth of ice.
Oh, I forgot, when evidence of AGW not happening as proclaimed comes around its weather not climate. Does that excuse hold here?
Does that hurt? Nah, they're frozen.
"A secondary borehole that acts as a well, its water back-pumped into the main hole after being filtered and sterilized, was started a night earlier, Priscu told Earther"
I'm glad they had the foresight to sterilize the water that would ultimately mix with the lake. Not doing so would have been just plain sad and stupid. (and counterproductive, if the goal was really to survey what was down there and *only* what was down there.)
I remember I had really high hopes only to be utterly disappointed. There was no real insight into prokaryotic science from the effects of such long ecosystem separation.
I again have really high hopes with this one. Mercer Lake does not even have a bloody Wiki page. [RAGE].
I predict that I will be utterly disappointed.
Lake Vostok isolation time:
Mercer Lake information:
Lake Vostok is much larger:
Good luck, colleagues.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
This would be the starting point for another novel. You know it would.
Sounds like the plot of a Syfy movie. Scientists dig a hole, unleash a long-dormant virus that kills half of humanity until Tara Reid comes in and saves the day while saying a bunch of really long and meaningless but technical sounding words that she can barely pronounce.
And then a shark flies in from behind and is about to eat her when the screen cuts to black.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Should read "Scientists violated and contaminated a the last remaining pristine wilderness ecosystem untouched by the ravages of modern civilization."
That's how it would read if it was anything other than scientists, such as an oil exploration company searching for oil.
...dig up Megatron.
You'll really regret it....
Ain't they something! Mother pin a rose on me!
The Great Mystery! Spoiler - they will find exactly what they found in the other lake 13km away, give or take a few changes so inconsequential that about only 30 people on the planet will care about them and 1 person will be excited about them.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
This headline wasn't feminist enough.
Please fix it, or leave the internet to your feminazi overlords. Ladies.
Miss Mash gonna delete ur flamebait post dooshbag
They won't tell us what is really down there anyways. Any real life changing paradigm discoveries will be marked as "top secret" due to "national security".
"...scientists are stoked..."
bitchin' bro!! check out this sample
gnarly!!!
Lake Mercer is 64 miles wide, more than 30 feet deep. I think whatever small amount of sterilized water (melted from antarctic ice mind!) makes it in from the borehole is not going to have much of an effect...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Your mom isn't a pristine untapped environment dude
Each time they drill into one of these hidden ancient lakes it's a 1 in 400 chance of unleashing Cthulhu. Is it worth it? Is it?
I'm pretty sure no self-respecting scientist is going to be drilling in feetses these days.
Yes, look at the negativity in articles about BP drilling in the gulf versus this article about science exploration. The BP gulf occurrence (not fiasco) provided the scientific community with valuable data (on sociopathy and psychopathy) and the way marine life responded (not killed) to external stimuli (not toxic oil) of decomposed organic matter. Another example: count the negative words versus positive in any article about Jefferey Dalmer and compare the same ratio of such words in articles about Iron Chef, and youâ(TM)ll see the media bias so rampant and obvious. We analyzed articles this way in my 7th grade creationism class in the ozarks. Trust me. Iâ(TM)ve earned our companyâ(TM)s Dunning-Kruger employee of the year plaque 6 years in a row. Trust me, comrades, I mean slashdotians. (By the way, thereâ(TM)s no truth to the rumor that a 4th coup attempt against Putin this year has his trolls on edge. )
Pure Antarctic Mercer Lake water from the dawn of time. Hand selected for your quaffication pleasure. Now in handy non-recyclable plastic bottles with luxurious seal skin covers made from the pelts of the rare Iliamna Lake freshwater seal. Be the first in your privilege context to possess and sample this rare delicacy. Only one bottle will be sold in each zip code, guaranteeing exclusivity to those discerning few who know water when they see it.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
God there's some sad fucks on /. these days...
I can't wait to see Antarctica's counter attack.
I guess it's interesting to possibly find something out from this ancient lake. And I realize this is different science. But it seems odd to be talking about global warming and ice melting, then we go drill deep into Antarctica with a hot water drill. I understand it's barely anything. It still just kind of makes me go: "Huh," for a second when I read it.
I'd hope we could find something interesting. But from another comment on here, it sounds like we found nothing interesting in a similar situation before.
When Russia did it they where reckless and unrespectful of the pristine ecosystem. Now the US does it and it is some kind of milestone for humanity? ...
Get lost