Lake Vostok Preliminary Drilling Results

The preliminary results from the drilling of Lake Vostok earlier this year have now been made public:

This week the preliminary results of the upper layer of the ancient lake are in: the first analysis of the ice that froze onto the drillbit used in last February’s landmark drilling shows no native microbes came up with the lake water, according to Sergey Bulat of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russia) and Nature blog.

This uppermost zone of Lake Vostok appears to be “lifeless” so far, says Bulat, but that doesn’t mean the rest of it is according to what he calls his team’s “very preliminary results” on Tuesday, at the 12th European Workshop on Astrobiology (ENEA 2012), in Stockholm, Sweden, at the AlbaNova University Center.

The Russian scientists drilled down to the oxygen-rich lake at the rate of four meters a day, which is buried beneath a sheet of ice almost four kilometers thick, and extracted water samples for analysis. If extreme life is found in the lake, this would have implications for the possibilities of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s satellite Enceladus, both of which host a similar environment.

I know many of us will be disappointed with this initial report, but we should remain hopeful we'll find something of interest when they analyze the water at lower depths.

Source

reply to post by 1questioner


Good find.

I've been waiting to hear more about this. Cool stuff. I can't wait for them to report what gets found down there. It is disappointing that they haven't found anything yet.

Just have to be patient and see.

Was thinking about asking everybody here if they heard anything

Well ya beat me to it!!

Good find

The fact that they are still alive and talking means no earth shattering virus was released!! Lol

Now, what about that magnetic anomaly at the other side of the lake?


Be safe people

Originally posted by viperdave
Was thinking about asking everybody here if they heard anything

Well ya beat me to it!!

Good find

The fact that they are still alive and talking means no earth shattering virus was released!! Lol

Now, what about that magnetic anomaly at the other side of the lake?


Be safe people

Now, what about that magnetic anomaly at the other side of the lake?

I'm wondering about that too. I'm sure if there is a magnetic anomaly, the U.S. military knows something...

reply to post by 1questioner


I'm sure they probably allready have an idea what it is, if its natural they will tell us what an incredible find it is, if its of alien origin , the story will be lost and forgotten but you will see a 10 fold in personell and equipment going to the Vostok area!! But "nothing is going on" " just routine exploring"

Then the Norwegian base will lose contact with the outside world and then the American base and we will hear news reports that Kurt Russell was killed while shooting a movie in Antarctica!! Lol

Sorry, had to add that!! Lol


Viperdave

Even though we have no headline results so far, the actual drilling is a spectacular scientific event in and of itself.
Quoting the article:

Because of the long isolation, it's believed that Lake Vostok could contain new lifeforms, and unique geochemical processes. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleo-climatic record of 400,000 years, although the lake water itself may have been isolated for as long as 15 million years.

Russian researchers have thawed ice estimated to be perhaps a million years old or more from above the ancient lake that lies hidden more than two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica. Scientists used genomic techniques to determine how tiny, living "time capsules" survived the ages in total darkness, in freezing cold, and without food and energy from the sun.

reply to post by 1questioner


thanks for the update thus far 1questioner, atleast they have naval support just incase nothing turns into something from nothing Observing...

I appreciate the update

I am sure the reports of a under water pyramid where Alien and predator are fighting it out will be soon to come

In all seriousness, this lake has some incredible possibilites! I would like to drop a fishing line down into its depths to see if i could catch some kind of prehistoric fish.

grr double post

I found another article regarding the preliminary drilling results at Lake Vostok that also references new drilling sites at two other Antarctic lakes.

A team from the British Antarctic Survey is on a competing mission, set to plumb the depths of Lake Ellsworth, one of a string of more than 370 lakes beneath Antarctica that may soon see light for the first time. And a third Antarctic expedition -- a study of the subglacial Whillans Ice Stream -- mainly features U.S. scientists.

Source

Thanks for the update. It's warming up in the Southern Hemisphere so they'll be drilling again soon. Yesterday I read that some aircraft couldn't leave an Australian Antarctic because the runway was melting, so it's unseasonally warm too.

Flagged

I have been waiting for this information myself and I assume there are others who are also looking. I am a wee bit disappointed but the first attempt is far from the final. Life is resilient and thrives in even the harshest conditions. Lets just wait and see.

The sad part is that in their rush to be "first' the method used by the Russian team has a very real chance of contaminating the untouched lake. Look at the press release, no "native" microbes came up. Which means non native microbes most likely did. Very sad.

reply to post by 1questioner


Thanks for this.
Finally something moving
I've been waiting this news and this report on what gets found down there, from february.
Lake Vostok Antartica: breackthrough imminent

S&F.