Lake Vostok drilling in Antarctic 'running out of time'

[Judi Lynn]

27 January 2011 Last updated at 21:38 ET
Lake Vostok drilling in Antarctic 'running out of time'
By Katia Moskvitch
Science reporter, BBC News

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 non-stop for weeks.

"It's like working on an alien planet where no one has been before," Valery Lukin, the deputy head of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg, which oversees the project, told BBC News.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12275979

[dipsydoodle]

1. Beat me to it

You rascal. :rofl:

Interesting subject isn't it.

:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ha HAAA! As a consolation prize, here's a good look at some freshwater Lake Baikal nerpa,

these wonderful seal spheres! I still can't believe they are real.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/3391/3636073116_f0fd4bb2d7.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/2450/3636069368_4ebf33ceea.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/4082/4879553637_cda9d96ed0_z.jpg

http://rt.com.nyud.net:8090/files/news/prime-time/lake-baikal-pearl-among-wonders-of-russia/485a1e3287f5c.jpg http://us.123rf.com.nyud.net:8090/400wm/400/400/wihtgod/wihtgod1007/wihtgod100700071/7376329-the-baikal-seal-nerpa--is-a-species-endemic-unique-to-baikal-the-worlds-deepest-lake.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com.nyud.net:8090/3310/3636072898_244b7f4f19.jpg

WTF?

[dipsydoodle]

3. Did you know

we get seals swimming up the River Thames even upstream from Teddington Lock which is the last of the locks. http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2073070_marine_mammals_seal_of_approval_for_molesey

[Judi Lynn]

5. Wonderful article! Had no idea they did that. It's bound to startle the heck out of people

when they spot them, especially when they get noisey, barking away in the river.

They've been spotted as far from the coast as 50 miles, too. Very neat trick, although it's good to see they also make their way back o.k., too.

Nothing more endearing than those little faces.

Thanks, a lot, for the bright spot in a day.

[thereismore]

4. I believe the Baikal seals are the only truly freshwater seals in existence. nt

[Judi Lynn]

6. Yes, you're right. I heard about them for the first time only in the last year!

Fantastically interesting critters.

[dipsydoodle]

7. That's the oddity here

Our seals, type unknown , swim up the tidal stretch of the Thames Estuary and then above the lock which is fresh river water. :shrug: