Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake
Airborne radar has detected ≈100 lakes under the Antarctic ice cap, the largest of which is Lake Vostok. International planning is underway to search in Lake Vostok for microbial life that may have evolved in isolation from surface life for millions of years. It is thought, however, that the lakes m...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The National Academy of Sciences
2002
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122982 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060731 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:122982 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:122982 2023-05-15T13:48:49+02:00 Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake Price, P. Buford Nagornov, Oleg V. Bay, Ryan Chirkin, Dmitry He, Yudong Miocinovic, Predrag Richards, Austin Woschnagg, Kurt Koci, Bruce Zagorodnov, Victor 2002-06-11 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122982 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060731 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 en eng The National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122982 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060731 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 Copyright © 2002, The National Academy of Sciences Physical Sciences Text 2002 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 2013-08-29T10:46:18Z Airborne radar has detected ≈100 lakes under the Antarctic ice cap, the largest of which is Lake Vostok. International planning is underway to search in Lake Vostok for microbial life that may have evolved in isolation from surface life for millions of years. It is thought, however, that the lakes may be hydraulically interconnected. If so, unsterile drilling would contaminate not just one but many of them. Here we report measurements of temperature vs. depth down to 2,345 m in ice at the South Pole, within 10 km from a subglacial lake seen by airborne radar profiling. We infer a temperature at the 2,810-m deep base of the South Pole ice and at the lake of −9°C, which is 7°C below the pressure-induced melting temperature of freshwater ice. To produce the strong radar signal, the frozen lake must consist of a mix of sediment and ice in a flat bed, formed before permanent Antarctic glaciation. It may, like Siberian and Antarctic permafrost, be rich in microbial life. Because of its hydraulic isolation, proximity to South Pole Station infrastructure, and analog to a Martian polar cap, it is an ideal place to test a sterile drill before risking contamination of Lake Vostok. From the semiempirical expression for strain rate vs. shear stress, we estimate shear vs. depth and show that the IceCube neutrino observatory will be able to map the three-dimensional ice-flow field within a larger volume (0.5 km3) and at lower temperatures (−20°C to −35°C) than has heretofore been possible. Text Antarc* Antarctic Ice Ice cap permafrost South pole South pole PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Frozen Lake ENVELOPE(76.108,76.108,-69.415,-69.415) Lake Vostok ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) South Pole The Antarctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99 12 7844 7847 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences Price, P. Buford Nagornov, Oleg V. Bay, Ryan Chirkin, Dmitry He, Yudong Miocinovic, Predrag Richards, Austin Woschnagg, Kurt Koci, Bruce Zagorodnov, Victor Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences |
description |
Airborne radar has detected ≈100 lakes under the Antarctic ice cap, the largest of which is Lake Vostok. International planning is underway to search in Lake Vostok for microbial life that may have evolved in isolation from surface life for millions of years. It is thought, however, that the lakes may be hydraulically interconnected. If so, unsterile drilling would contaminate not just one but many of them. Here we report measurements of temperature vs. depth down to 2,345 m in ice at the South Pole, within 10 km from a subglacial lake seen by airborne radar profiling. We infer a temperature at the 2,810-m deep base of the South Pole ice and at the lake of −9°C, which is 7°C below the pressure-induced melting temperature of freshwater ice. To produce the strong radar signal, the frozen lake must consist of a mix of sediment and ice in a flat bed, formed before permanent Antarctic glaciation. It may, like Siberian and Antarctic permafrost, be rich in microbial life. Because of its hydraulic isolation, proximity to South Pole Station infrastructure, and analog to a Martian polar cap, it is an ideal place to test a sterile drill before risking contamination of Lake Vostok. From the semiempirical expression for strain rate vs. shear stress, we estimate shear vs. depth and show that the IceCube neutrino observatory will be able to map the three-dimensional ice-flow field within a larger volume (0.5 km3) and at lower temperatures (−20°C to −35°C) than has heretofore been possible. |
format |
Text |
author |
Price, P. Buford Nagornov, Oleg V. Bay, Ryan Chirkin, Dmitry He, Yudong Miocinovic, Predrag Richards, Austin Woschnagg, Kurt Koci, Bruce Zagorodnov, Victor |
author_facet |
Price, P. Buford Nagornov, Oleg V. Bay, Ryan Chirkin, Dmitry He, Yudong Miocinovic, Predrag Richards, Austin Woschnagg, Kurt Koci, Bruce Zagorodnov, Victor |
author_sort |
Price, P. Buford |
title |
Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
title_short |
Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
title_full |
Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
title_fullStr |
Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
title_full_unstemmed |
Temperature profile for glacial ice at the South Pole: Implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
title_sort |
temperature profile for glacial ice at the south pole: implications for life in a nearby subglacial lake |
publisher |
The National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122982 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060731 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(76.108,76.108,-69.415,-69.415) ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) |
geographic |
Antarctic Frozen Lake Lake Vostok South Pole The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Frozen Lake Lake Vostok South Pole The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Ice cap permafrost South pole South pole |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Ice Ice cap permafrost South pole South pole |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122982 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12060731 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2002, The National Academy of Sciences |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.082238999 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
99 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
7844 |
op_container_end_page |
7847 |
_version_ |
1766249809798234112 |