It would seem that the era of the great geographical discoveries remained in the past, became the property of history. There are no more blank spots on Earth. With the help of satellites, a "portrait" of the planet has been drawn with an accuracy of one meter. Unless, in some godforsaken wilderness of the Amazonian jungle, you can still find a rivulet hiding under a tree canopy impenetrable to cosmic "eyes".
And yet, in the second half of the 20th century, a huge lake was found on Earth, comparable in size to Ladoga. It was not found earlier, because it is covered with a four-kilometer ice shell. This Lake Vostok in Antarctica is the greatest geographical discovery of the 20th century. And one of the greatest mysteries of the present century.
Under the hood of the special services
The existence of this lake, like other subglacial lakes, was predicted by the famous scientist A. P. Kapitsa back in 1955-1957, but it is believed that the discovery itself took place relatively recently, in 1996. The lake was discovered by Russian polar explorers. It got its name from the Russian scientific station "Vostok", located on an ice shell just above the surface of the reservoir.
Research and seismological measurements have shown that Lake Vostok has enormous dimensions: length - about 250 kilometers, width - about 50 kilometers, depth - more than 1200 meters, area - about 16 thousand square kilometers. Completely cut off from direct contact with the sun, winds and life on the surface by four kilometers of ice, it has been isolated for about 14 million years. The water temperature in it is very high - up to 10 ° C, which clearly indicates an underground heat source.
Simultaneously with Russian scientists, the Americans conducted research in the area of Lake Vostok. Data obtained from American orbiting satellites showed that above the water surface of the lake there is a cavity covered with an ice dome 800 meters high. In addition, a high magnetic anomaly was recorded in the western part. And then the fun began.
In February 2000, the further implementation of the American research program was abruptly interrupted, and all civilian specialists were removed from it. The management of further work passed to a special government department - the National Security Agency (NSA).
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At the same time, a new contingent of researchers arrived at the Russian Vostok station, along with which a large amount of very expensive ultra-modern equipment was delivered. All this happened in deep secrecy …
Some time after all these events, from the Australian station "Casey" two extreme sportsmen set off towards the lake with the intention of crossing the icy continent on skis. When they reached the lake and were already walking on its ice cover, a US Air Force plane landed near them, and some "plainclothes" invited the girls to board, explaining that they had come to rescue them.
Meanwhile, the travelers had serviceable means of communication, and they did not ask for help. It is known that during the hike these extreme sportsmen informed relatives and friends by satellite phones that upon their return they would tell them about something absolutely incredible. However, when they returned home, they did not tell anyone, did not give any interviews, and the attempts of journalists to meet with them invariably failed. Since then, all work in the Lake Vostok area has been carried out in the strictest secrecy.
Superdeep well
The only open information is the work on drilling the superdeep well 5G-1, which is being carried out by Russian polar explorers. Initially, the main goal of deep drilling was to obtain a continuous ice core - a cylindrical column of ice - a kind of glacier cut, the study of which has made it possible to reconstruct all the changes in the climate of our planet over the past 420 thousand years.
But when in 1996 the well reached a mark of 3539 meters, ice began, which, in terms of chemical and isotopic composition and crystallographic structure, was frozen water of a subglacial lake. By 1999, drilling was carried out to a depth of 3623 meters, and then unexpectedly suspended about 120 meters from the proposed surface of the lake at the request of foreign environmental organizations (behind which, of course, were the authorities, dissatisfied with Russia's priority in this area).
Environmentalists pointed to the use of kerosene, freon and ethylene glycol when drilling a well and supposedly the likelihood of their getting into the lake, which could harm its unique ecosystem. The objections of Russian experts that the drilling technique was safe, approved at the 26th Consultative Meeting of the Antarctic Treaty in Madrid in 2003 and had already been tested in Greenland, were not heard. The specialists of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute had to develop a new environmentally friendly technology, and in 2006 the work on deep drilling was resumed.
"Sugar bone" for journalists
On February 5, 2012, at a depth of 3769.3 meters, scientists completed drilling and reached the surface of a subglacial lake. On January 10, 2013, the first 2-meter-long transparent lake ice core was obtained. Previously unknown types of bacteria were discovered that extract energy from redox reactions, and not organic substances, and are able to exist in the most extreme conditions, including in the subglacial oceans of Jupiter's moons (Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) or Saturn (Enceladus).
In July 2013, thanks to metagenomics methods, scientists were able to identify more than 3,500 different species of living organisms that live in the lake. But answers to many questions can be obtained only in the 2014-2015 season, when polar explorers begin to study the lake to the full depth, lowering samplers and probes into it.
The importance of all this work is difficult to overestimate. And yet it seems that the excitement around 5G-1 is created artificially. This is a kind of "sugar bone" thrown to the world media in order to distract them from other actions in the area of Lake Vostok. And these deeds are covered with a dense veil of secrecy.
Underground civilization
What do the bowels of the Lake Vostok hide? Spy satellites, Russian and American, have repeatedly recorded the launch of flying saucers in the Antarctic region directly from under the water. A hypothesis was put forward about the existence under the mainland, in particular in the region of Lake Vostok, of a huge cavity, but rather of a whole system of caves connected with the ocean by underwater tunnels. And these cavities are probably quite suitable for life, since there are geothermal or some other sources of heat in the underground depths.
There is a version that 14-15 million years ago Antarctica was a flourishing continent free of ice. This is where the legendary Atlantis should be sought. Here lived a mighty civilization of the Atlanteans, whose development was several orders of magnitude higher than the current one on Earth. But once a war broke out between the Atlanteans and another super-civilization of the Aryans, during which weapons of a planetary scale were used.
As a result, the earth's axis shifted, the magnetic poles were reversed, supervolcanic eruptions and giant tsunamis destroyed all life on land. Few people survived, but fell into a wild state. Civilization was thrown back millions of years. And Atlantis turned into Antarctica - the kingdom of cold. However, some of the Atlanteans managed to go underground, preserving their civilization. But with those who lived on the surface, they did not want to have anything to do. Only in the 1940s did the Nazis somehow manage to establish contacts with them.
In 1941, the Germans landed in Antarctica, on Queen Maud Land, and established their station "Oasis" there. They called the territory annexed from Norway New Swabia. And a little earlier, apparently, German submarines managed to find passages in the underwater tunnels leading to the berths of the underground cities of the Atlanteans. How the "ants" managed to evoke the sympathy of the "gods" is unclear, but it is an indisputable fact that the Nazis were not only allowed to settle in Antarctica, but even shared some technologies with them.
It is known, after all, that the Germans created and tested their super-secret "weapon of retaliation" V-7 - supersonic disc planes, propelled by rocket and possibly nuclear engines. And after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the most valuable archives of the Third Reich were taken here, in underground caches, in several submarines, and, probably, some of the Nazi leaders found shelter here.
In January 1947, the United States attempted to destroy New Swabia with an expedition codenamed High Jump, under the command of Admiral Richard Byrd. It was attended by 13 ships of the US Navy, including an aircraft carrier, icebreakers, tanker and submarine. Air vehicles included 15 heavy aircraft, long-range reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, and flying boats. The staff of this "scientific" expedition is curious. It consisted of 25 scientists and … 4100 marines, soldiers and officers. The military operation was planned for 6-8 months, but after three weeks the squadron left the coast of Antarctica.
Richard Byrd wrote in his report that on the ice continent they faced such a strong enemy that the American army was not capable of defeating. According to the admiral, the flotilla was defeated by "flying saucers" that emerged from under the water and fired at the ships.
Since then, no one has dared to invade the dungeons of Atlantis. Is a new contact possible? Time will tell.