Lake Vostok drilling in Antarctic 'running out of time'

Lake Vostok drilling in Antarctic 'running out of time'

www.bbc.co.uk

With only about 50m left to drill, time is running out for the Russian scientists hoping to drill into Vostok - the world's most enigmatic lake.

Vostok is a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica, hidden some 4,000m (13,000ft) beneath the ice sheet.

With the Antarctic summer almost over, temperatures will soon begin to plummet; they can go as low as -80C.

Scientists will leave the remote base on 6 February, when conditions are still mild enough for a plane to land.

The team has been drilling.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.enterprisemission.com
www.south-pole.com
www.cyberspaceorbit.com

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2b0ebc41525d.jpg[/atsimg]

The lake, buried under about 4km of ice (and with about a 1,000 feet of open air above the liquid fresh water) was discovered in the early 80s yet not officially recognized (or revealed to the general public) until 1993. Further, news of it wasn't widely spread until the last 10 years or so.

And now, the Russians are trying to hurry up and breach its mysteries --JUST BEFORE the weather gets so bad that they have to leave for the season.

Richard Hoagland of www.enterprisemission.com has reported on some of the magnetic (and other) anomalies of Lake Vostok in the past (see FIRST link above). There is quite a bit going on here. A bit of history...

In the early 1950s, Admiral Richard Byrd led a naval task force to the area (OPERATION HIGH JUMP), leading from the U.S.S. Carrier Philippine Sea. He had many planes and marines at his disposal and was set to project a US military presence in the Antarctic for 6 months.

Mysteriously, the mission ended without much (if any) explanation. However, the Admiral was quoted in an Argentinian newspaper. He commeted about the US having to deal with an opponent who could fly aircraft "from pole to pole" with shocking speed. See SECOND link above... (NOTE: for the OPERATION HIGH JUMP link, you may have to press "next" or "previous" or type in "operation high jump" in a search field; it is worth the effort, as the link has a LOT of information and images).

Toss into the mix rumors and validated information about unaccounted-for German U-boats and there is a bit of intrigue to all of this. Prolific and well-sourced author Jim Marrs has some thoughts on the topic... See THIRD link above.


www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Is there any life in the lake , if you know ?

Originally posted by rigel4
Is there any life in the lake , if you know ?

There is a photograph of some bacteria that has turned up in ice-core samples already taken. The scientists are certain they will find life because in almost *every* extreme environment humans have ventured into (on Earth), we have found life, even if only microbial, like the somewhat recent discovery of strange new life, almost alien, found in that Californian lake that NASA recently announced.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/69bf21441a57.jpg[/atsimg]

Thats very Interesting!. That lake is a very very old time capsule sealed from the outside world for millenia, millions of years even. Hope nothing too bad leaks out. ( Virus) .

Really Interesting thanks.

Hey I'm a new user here... but been a long time lurker.

I saw a new article on this Lake Vostok and just wanted to bump this thread with it. I didn't see any other threads in the first few pages and this was the most recent.

Alexei Turkeyev, head of the Russian polar Vostok Station, told Reuters by satellite phone that scientists have “only a bit left to go.” His team has been drilling for weeks in a race to reach the lake -- buried 12,000 feet beneath the polar ice cap -- before the end of the brief Antarctic summer.

With the quickly returning onset of winter, scientists will be forced to leave on the last flight out on February 6. “It's minus 40 (Celsius/Fahrenheit) outside,” said Turkeyev. “But whatever, we're working. We're feeling good. There's only 5 meters left until we get to the lake so it'll all be very soon.”

Article here:
www.redorbit.com...

And here's a few other threads on the same topic... each with good links..
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think this is pretty cool stuff. Is this what the Germans were searching for too?

There's a cool movie on it too:
topdocumentaryfilms.com...

Did they get through? Has anybody heard anything new?

Wasn't the original idea to drill through, which would 'push up' the cores due to the release of pressure, and let it freeze back over? This would preserve the lake's integrity, and they'd return next year to get those 'pushed up' samples.

For such a huge story, it's gone very quiet. I can't find any updates at all on the net. Yesterday was meant to be the last day of drilling.

I'm guessing it must have been a failure. Very strange.

Originally posted by GhostLancer

Lake Vostok drilling in Antarctic 'running out of time'

www.bbc.co.uk

With only about 50m left to drill, time is running out for the Russian scientists hoping to drill into Vostok - the world's most enigmatic lake.

Vostok is a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica, hidden some 4,000m (13,000ft) beneath the ice sheet.

With the Antarctic summer almost over, temperatures will soon begin to plummet; they can go as low as -80C.

Scientists will leave the remote base on 6 February, when conditions are still mild enough for a plane to land.

The team has been drilling.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.enterprisemission.com
www.south-pole.com
www.cyberspaceorbit.com

The sub-glacial Lake Vostok is located at the bottom of a 12,000 foot-thick ice sheet in Antarctica but the project leaders reported the evacuation of its team 29.53 meters short of the final destination. They plan to resume their work next spring, when temperatures allow them to again use their drills.

I've been looking at this too... there seems to be conflicting reports about this.

5 meters of ice left (as stated above)

50 meters of ice left link

but it does seem that they did not collect any samples yet and will have to wait till next year to test the samples.

One thing that is really interesting about this is the fact that it's been held so quiet.

This could be a major discovery. Yes the thought of a unknown Virus is a little scary, but hey.. whats another doomsday senario scheduled for 2012 now...

I can't imagine how awesome it would be if they pulled out a fish that you find in the lakes today. that would be icefishing to the extreme

What do you think... any life down there that we don't need a microscope for to see?? I think so..

How irritating!! We have to wait a whole bloody year now. Thanks for the updates

You know that once temps go up a bit this near 5 mile high icedome will melt and rise sea levels in the general area right?