Will something like the movie "Something" await us (by the way, the continuation of this film is being released) or will everything be okay?
An expedition is preparing to leave for Antarctica, the task of which is to find unknown life forms in the subglacial Lake Ellsworth and the key to understanding climate change - in the ice.
Lake Ellsworth is isolated from the outside world for at least 125 thousand years, and by some estimates - a million years. It must have life that developed in complete isolation from the rest of the biosphere. The problem is that Lake Ellsworth is covered in three kilometers of ice.
Scientists carry 70 tons of equipment with them, some of which are pumps and a water heating installation. They plan not to drill the ice, but to melt it with a hot jet. For one or two years, for which the expedition is designed, they will melt the ice, take samples for study and then, having reached the lake, study samples of water and bottom soil.
“If the project is successful, we can make important discoveries about life on Earth and in West Antarctica,” said research leader Professor Martin Siegert of the University of Edinburgh.
1. The drilling rig will heat the water up to 97 degrees
2. The hose will melt a 3-km layer of ice
3. The probe will take samples of water and sediment at the bottom of the lake before the well freezes
Studying the West Antarctic ice sheet is critical to predicting the potential impacts of climate change, as if the Antarctic ice melts, the global ocean level could rise by 3–7 meters.
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Scientists expect to find life in the lake, because it is non-freezing: the water temperature is maintained thanks to geothermal heat from the bowels of the Earth. Radar and seismic surveys also revealed that the bottom of the lake is covered with a loose sedimentary layer. The results of the work of scientists will largely depend on how long local life forms have evolved in isolation from the general line of evolution.
Melting ice will be a process that cannot be stopped. The water heated to 97 degrees will be delivered to the work site via a three-kilometer hose. The borehole diameter will be about 36 cm. After the ice sheet is pierced through, a probe with 24 flasks will be lowered into the lake to take samples at different depths. No more than a day is allotted to work with the probe before the well freezes.
The first team from the UK team is leaving for Ellsworth Lake this week to prepare the site and conduct preliminary studies, and the main team will arrive with equipment a year later.
This is not the first ever attempt to reach the subglacial Antarctic lake. Russian scientists are close to succeeding in trying to drill a 4-kilometer thick layer of ice that covers Lake Vostok, and American specialists are preparing to explore the lake under the Willans Glacier.