Antarctic lake mission targets life and climate signs

[Tank]

Antarctic lake mission targets life and climate signs

A pioneering British expedition to sample a lake under the Antarctic ice hopes to find unknown forms of life and clues to future climate impacts.

The mission will use hot water to melt its way through ice 3km (2 miles) thick to reach Lake Ellsworth, which has been isolated from the outside world for at least 125,000 years - maybe a million.

The team hopes to be the first to sample a sub-glacial Antarctic lake.

An engineering team leaves the UK later this week along with 70 tonnes of gear.

The project, funded to the tune of £7m by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council, aims to obtain samples of the lake water itself and of sediment on the lake floor...

Getting excited now to see what they find!!!!

[Too Few Lions]

Getting excited now to see what they find!!!!

It'll be the giant ice wall at the edge of the Earth-disk 

Seriously though, it does sound like a pretty amazing expedition

[Sandra Craft]

Getting excited now to see what they find!!!!

That's what I love about this place, always something interesting going on.

[Tank]

Getting excited now to see what they find!!!!

That's what I love about this place, always something interesting going on.

Can you imagine what the'll find down there! Isolated for something between 125k and 1M years, pitch black, huge pressure, hot in some areas from geothermal energy and freezing in others from contact with the ice sheet. I bet it'll just be an extremeophile bacteria 

[OldGit]

I say it'll be huge, monstrous, a survival of the ancient evil brooding in its last hellish lurking-place beneath the primordial ice.  A hideous black tentacle will emerge from the hole and spread the primeval terror .....
Or else it'll be a funny litle pink blob.  One or the other.

[Sandra Craft]

Can you imagine what the'll find down there! Isolated for something between 125k and 1M years, pitch black, huge pressure, hot in some areas from geothermal energy and freezing in others from contact with the ice sheet. I bet it'll just be an extremeophile bacteria 

It'd pretty much have to be, if it's down there at all.  Tho I would rather see the pink blob than the giant black tentacle. 

[DeterminedJuliet]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

[Tank]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

I hope he finds it interesting and/or useful!

[DeterminedJuliet]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

I hope he finds it interesting and/or useful!

His exact words were "Aw! Awwweesssommee!" haha

[Tank]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

I hope he finds it interesting and/or useful!

His exact words were "Aw! Awwweesssommee!" haha

Excellent!

[Asmodean]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

I hope he finds it interesting and/or useful!

...Like frostbite?  Interesting, Antarctica is. But the first adjective that comes to mind is... Cold.

[Tank]

My husband is doing his Ph.d on Antarctica, I'll have to tell him about this. 

I hope he finds it interesting and/or useful!

...Like frostbite?  Interesting, Antarctica is. But the first adjective that comes to mind is... Cold.

With no fur Asmo would freeze. Where is The Magic Pudding to put Asmo in a Paka when you need him

[Asmodean]

With no fur Asmo would freeze. Where is The Magic Pudding to put Asmo in a Paka when you need him

Would look really good in one of them Eskimo-hoods too  'Haps even a polar explorer beard.