A team of UK scientists will drill through 3 kilometres of Antarctic ice to reach a buried lake that has been sealed from the surface for hundreds of thousands of years. Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, 10 kilometres long and 160 metres deep, sits beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. No one has ever directly sampled a subglacial lake. The project has two goals: find out whether microbial life exists in this dark, pressurised, nutrient-poor environment, and extract sediment from the lake floor to reconstruct the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. That sediment record could reveal when the ice sheet last collapsed, which is critical for predicting how it will respond to future warming. This is fundamental science. There is no immediate practical application. But the work will answer a profound question about the limits of life on Earth—and by extension, the potential for life on icy moons such as Europa and Enceladus. The clean-access technology developed for this project, designed to prevent contamination of the pristine lake, could also set new standards for sterile sampling in other extreme environments. The results will reshape understanding of Antarctic glacial history and the resilience of microbial ecosystems.
View original technical description
This project has two fundamental scientific aims: (1) to determine whether, and in what form, microbial life exists in Antarctic subglacial lakes, and (2) to determine the history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. To meet these aims, we will undertake the direct measurement and sampling of water and sediment within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth in West Antarctica. For over a decade, scientists have regarded subglacial lakes to be extreme yet viable habitats for microbial life. Additionally, sedimentary palaeoenvironment records are thought to exist on the floors of subglacial lakes, which would provide critical insights into the glacial history of Antarctica. Of the >150 known subglacial lakes, Lake Ellsworth stands out as an ideal candidate for exploration. Through a NERC-AFI award, glaciologists have shown the lake, beneath 3 km of ice, to be 10 km long, 2-3 km wide and 160 m deep, confirming it as an ideal deep-water lake for exploration. The deployment of heavy equipment has been shown to be possible at this location, based on several deep-field reconnaissance studies. This project will build, test and deploy all the equipment necessary to complete the experiment in a clean and environmentally responsible manner. Samples will be analysed and split at laboratories in the field and at Rothera Station, and then distributed to laboratories across the UK. This project, which has been in a planning stage for four years, will be a benchmark exercise in the exploration of Antarctica, will make profound scientific discoveries regarding life in extreme environments and West Antarctic Ice Sheet history, and will be of genuine interest to the public and media.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know