Lake Vostok drill on hold !

Lake Vostok drill on hold !

english.ruvr.ru

The onset of the Antarctic winter has forced a team of Russian explorers to postpone the conclusion of their effort to drill a borehole to subglacial Lake Vostok until the next Antarctic summer. All are traveling on board a Russian ship to Cape Town and are expected home on Sunday.

Their borehole is now at 3,270 metres below the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet. Lake Vostok is within just 50 metres.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, something tells me the "site" would be prime for the pickins'-if you could get there.

I think the Russians are safe on this one. No one was crazy enough to go there and drill to begin with----well Except them.

I put this up as I see the recent threads (mine included) about this story.

Time to put it to sleep-for this year.

Sorry there wasn't much more to the article. I checked around and only the Russian press has it running.

english.ruvr.ru
(visit the link for the full news article)

Vostok Base is the coldest place on Earth
Even he Russians have limits

Originally posted by anon72
Well, something tells me the "site" would be prime for the pickins'-if you could get there.

What pickings? Nothing but Ice and Snow and a small hole two miles into the ice flow. Whatcha think you will find?

Here is the drill site

reply to post by anon72



From here: www.celsias.com...

Interviewed by the BBC ,Dr Ekaikin said "Up until 3 km down, drilling is usually relatively easy - it has been done in Greenland and here in Antarctica. But after 3 km and as we near the bottom [of the ice sheet], the ice temperature gets very close to the ice melting point, and all sorts of problems begin."

That is why for the past few weeks, the team had been advancing at a snail's pace - about 1.6m a day.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fe1f65022448.jpg[/atsimg]


So, it would have taken another 31.25 days - in theory...the Russians could have lasted.

I was following this and I was looking forward to what they were going to discover. On the other hand I had reservations due to the possibility of contaminating the lake and killing whatever life existed.

www.newsdaily.com...

The above article from a few days ago suggests they might have made it... I can't wait. Shame if it's really off for another year!

I hope they find strange things down there.

But in 1998, as the drill reached within a hundred yards of the surface of the lake, they deliberately stopped. No one wanted to risk contaminating the water.

To keep the ice hole from freezing shut as they worked, however, the Russian scientists over the years pumped it full of aviation fuel and Freon. Now there is too much drilling fluid to be safely pumped out of the hole, stored aboveground, recycled or removed, Russian officials have reported.

At least 60 tons of the toxic chemicals sit in a narrow column that reaches to within a few hundred feet of the lake, like a needle poised above a bubble of expectations.

www.thelivingmoon.com...

Over the years, the Russian scientists here have endured temperatures colder than parts of Mars, dwindling support and reflexive skepticism about the quality of their research from colleagues in Europe and the United States.

Recent financial cutbacks in the Russian Antarctic Program mean that Vostok can be resupplied just once a year. Fuel and food are hauled overland by tractors about 900 miles from the coast. Mechanical breakdowns sometimes prevent the overland tractor trains from reaching Vostok.

It was Russian scientists at Vostok Station who discovered the lake and who first realized its unique potential. Now they hope that the international effort to explore the life in the lake might benefit their own faltering research program.

In the most ambitious drilling program ever undertaken on the southernmost continent, the Russian scientists produced the world's deepest ice core, containing an irreplaceable chemical record of more than 400,000 years of Earth's changing climate and atmosphere. They did not learn of the lake's existence or appreciate its importance until the project neared completion.

www.thelivingmoon.com...

here is the result of those ice core samples as far as Global warming is concerned





NASA image of Lake Vostok. Even though it is miles below the ice, it still shows as a flat area above

Originally posted by manmental
I hope they find strange things down there.

Like unknown micros that haven't seen the light of day since modern man was on Earth? Seems they are already reviving some

Good idea

Anyone remember Legionnaires' disease they dug up out of the ground?

Andromeda Strain V.2.0

It's not like anyone could check if they were still there drilling the ice. They probably just threw that story out so they could have time to fully examine and investigate their findings in private.

reply to post by zorgon


Well that's not very comforting news concerning the the fuel and freon just sitting there. What if it was to seep through the remaining ice and get into the lake if it already hasn't?

Well we can't have the start of the apocalypse in 2011, can we?

Originally posted by Jeremiah Johnson
Well that's not very comforting news concerning the the fuel and freon just sitting there. What if it was to seep through the remaining ice and get into the lake if it already hasn't?

Well there is another possibility...

The lake is kept warm by geothermal vents... and it turns out that despite the thick ice on top, sunlight still filters down (don't ask me how they know this... still trying to get an answer on that) So I would imagine microbes are thriving down there.

But there is a possibility that the water is under pressure and the lake may blow out through the drill hole like an oil well

I'm thinking that the Russians have found something that they feel is more important than possible life forms that are living in that lake. Greed could be a big motivator. Think about it...if there is a sunken city or some sort of archeological find to be found...it would be priceless to their country. It would be nice to find life forms from ages past....but they would not be worth money.

This is not my way of thinking, if I had my druthers, I would prefer they leave the lake alone...there's the possibility that they are opening Pandora's Box.

It will be interesting to see if anything they find sees the light of day.

Could the Russians lay claim to any finds in Antarctica? The reason I mention this is I was under the assumption a treaty is in place that no one country can claim Antarctica.

reply to post by Jeremiah Johnson


I don't know. Excellent question.

Shall we research and see who can answer first? Ready, set go....

I am thinking that no claim could be made/held in force, for that matter. But, who knows anymore.

reply to post by anon72


There is indeed a treaty, here ya go

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Jeremiah Johnson


First of all, you win. Nice reply time.

the rest at the link is pretty interesting stuff.

Sometimes we forget that they actually put some thought into some things back then. Good work on all their parts (the member/signing nations).

Now, no military? Hmmmm. Who's gonna enforce that? The U.N? Hell, all the ice would be gone by the time they got all ready to do something about that.

reply to post by anon72


First thing I said when I read that was "BS", I said that because I really doubt they would quit 50 meters away. We're talking about Russians, not some tough guys from California.

Seriously, I want to know what's really going on. 50 meters away!

reply to post by ThinkingCap


Exactly. Especially with all the hype.

Either they got what they wanted or this "going home" story is a cover for something bigger.

I was hoping to find an ATSer with some info/knowledge of the area and the weather conditions etc.

reply to post by anon72


I was thinking similar, like who is really down their to keep tabs on who's doing what? Unless a scientist or scientists that are aligned with another nation is present I suppose the Russians could say anything, either way I hope it's being documented on video. I would think it might be cool to watch them do the work and have it all explained.