Lake Vostok's location within Antarctica (NASA)

Lake Vostok is the largest of more than 70 subglacial lakes in Antarctica. It is located at 77° S 105° E, beneath Russia's Vostok Station, 4000 metres (13,000 feet) under the surface of the central Antarctic ice sheet. It is 250 km long by 50 km wide at its widest point, thus similar in size to Lake Ontario, and is divided into two deep basins by a ridge. The water over the ridge is about 200 m (650 feet) deep, compared to roughly 400 m (1,300 feet) deep in the northern basin and 800 m (2,600 feet) deep in the southern. Lake Vostok covers an area of 14,000 km² (5,400 mi²). It has an estimated volume of 5400 km³ (1,300 cubic miles) and consists of fresh water. In May 2005 an island was found in the center of the lake. Lake Vostoks position within Antarctica. ... Lake Vostoks position within Antarctica. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... A subglacial lake is a lake that is permanently covered by ice. ... A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. ... Vostok, Antarctica is a Russian research station located near the Geomagnetic South Pole (see South Pole), at the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. ... Lake Ontario seen from near Wolcott, New York Lake Ontario (French: lac Ontario), bounded on the north by Ontario and on the south by Ontarios Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. ... For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ...

Russian and British scientists discovered the lake's existence in 1996 by integrating a variety of data, including airborne ice-penetrating radar imaging observations and spaceborne radar altimetry. It has been confirmed that the lake contains plenty of liquid water under the more than three-kilometre thick icecap, promising to be the most unspoiled lake on Earth. Its water is very old, with a mean residence time in the order of one million years (as compared with six years for Lake Ontario, which is typical for lakes of that size). M*A*S*H , see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ... An altimeter is an active instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. ... An ice cap is a dome-shaped water ice mass that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area (usually covering a highland area). ... Lake Ontario seen from near Wolcott, New York Lake Ontario (French: lac Ontario), bounded on the north by Ontario and on the south by Ontarios Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. ...

Lake Vostok is visible from space as the ice sheet above it is flat. (NASA GSFC)

The average water temperature is around −3 °C; it remains liquid below the normal freezing point because of high pressure from the weight of the ice above it. Geothermal heat from the Earth's interior warms the bottom of the lake. The ice sheet itself insulates the lake from cold temperatures on the surface. RADARSAT image of Lake Vostok. ... RADARSAT image of Lake Vostok. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Aerial view of Goddard Space Flight Center. ... A degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... The melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. ... Geothermal power is electricity generated by utilizing naturally occurring geological heat sources. ...

Researchers working at Vostok Station produced one of the world's longest ice cores in 1998. A joint Russian, French, and U.S. team drilled and analyzed the core, which is 3623 m (11,886 feet) long. Ice samples from cores drilled close to the top of the lake have been analysed to be as old as 420,000 years, suggesting that the lake has been sealed under the icecap for between 500,000 and more than a million years. Drilling of the core was deliberately halted roughly 120 m (400 feet) above the suspected boundary where the ice sheet and the liquid waters of the lake are thought to meet to prevent contamination of the lake from the 60 ton column of freon and aviation fuel the Russians filled it with to prevent it freezing over. Vostok, Antarctica is a Russian research station located near the Geomagnetic South Pole (see South Pole), at the center of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. ... An ice core is a tube of ice removed from an ice sheet. ... Freon is a trade name for a group of chlorofluorocarbons used primarily as a refrigerant. ...

From this core, specifically from ice that is thought to have formed from lake water freezing onto the base of the ice sheet, evidence has been found, in the form of microbes, to suggest that the lake water supports life. Scientists suggested that the lake could possess a unique habitat for ancient bacteria with an isolated microbial gene pool containing characteristics developed perhaps 500,000 years ago. This stylistic schematic diagram shows a gene in relation to the double helix structure of DNA and to a chromosome (right). ...

Since it has been discovered that it consists of two separate basins divided by a ridge, it has been suggested that the chemical and biological compositions of these two ecosystems are likely to be different. In ecology, the word ecosystem is an abbreviation of the term, ecological system. ...

Lake Vostok is an oligotrophic extreme environment, one that is supersaturated with oxygen, with oxygen levels 50 times higher than those typically found in ordinary freshwater lakes on Earth. The sheer weight of the continental icecap sitting on top of Lake Vostok is believed to contribute to the high oxygen concentration. Besides dissolving in the water, oxygen and other gases are trapped in a type of structure called a clathrate. In clathrate structures, gases are enclosed in an icy cage and look like packed snow. These structures form at the high-pressure depths of Lake Vostok and would be unstable if brought to the surface. An Oligotrophic refers to any environment which offers little to sustain life. ... In physics, the term supersaturation or oversaturation refers to a solution that contains more of the dissolved material than could be dissolved by the solvent under existing circumstances. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ... For the village on the Isle of Wight, see Freshwater, Isle of Wight. ... Clathrate hydrates are a class of solids in which gas molecules occupy cages made up of hydrogen-bonded water molecules. ...

Due to this fact, if water is released from Lake Vostok due to drilling, it could gush like a popped carbonated drink can and, if not contained, open the lake to possible contamination and pose a potential hazard to scientists. Bubbles of carbon dioxide float to the surface of a carbonated soft drink. ...

No other natural lake environment on Earth has this much oxygen. Any organisms in Lake Vostok must be capable of overcoming very high oxygen stress. They may have had to evolve special adaptations, such as high concentrations of protective enzymes, in order to survive the lake's oxygen-rich environment. Ribbon diagram of the enzyme TIM. TIM is catalytically perfect, meaning its conversion rate is limited, or nearly limited to its substrate diffusion rate. ...

Due to the lake's similarity to a moon of Jupiter, Europa confirmion that life can survive in Lake Vostok might strengthen the argument for the presence of life on Europa. Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 1 µPa Oxygen 100% Europa (ew-roe-pə, IPA: (help· info); Greek Ευρώπη) is a moon of the planet Jupiter. ...

In April 2005, German, Russian and Japanese Researchers found that the lake has tides. Depending on the position of the sun and the moon, the surface rises between 1 and 2 cm. The researchers assume that the fluctuation of the lake surface has the effect of a pump that keeps the water circulating, which would be necessary for the survival of microorganisms if there are any. The tide is the regular rising and falling of the oceans surface caused by changes in gravitational forces external to the Earth. ... The Sun is the spectral type G2V yellow star at the center of Earths solar system. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). ...

In January 2006, Robin Bell and Michael Studinger, Geophysical researchers from Columbia University, announced in Geophysical Research Letters the discovery of two smaller lakes under the icecap, named 90 Degrees East and Sovetskaya. Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. ... Geophysical Research Letters is one of the scientific magazines dedicated to specialized aspects of geophysics, geology, climate science, and related disciplines. ... 90 Degrees East, also known as 90°E Lake, is a lake in Antarctica. ... Sovetskaya Lake is a liquid lake found buried under the Antarctic ice sheet. ...

It is also suspected that the Antarctica lakes may be connected by a network of rivers.

See also

• List of Antarctica expeditions

Territorial claims of Antarctica List of Antarctica expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. ...

External links

• "Miles Below Antarctic Ice, a Freshwater Lake May Harbor Ancient Life." Robert Lee Hotz, The Los Angeles Times.