Russians hit Water Driling for Antarctic lake

A radar satellite image shows smooth ice over the surface of Lake Vostok, over 3.5 kilometres down (Image: Canadian Space Agency/Radasat/NASA/Science Photo Library)

A Russian drilling team is trying to confirm that they have finally drilled into Lake Vostok, a vast subglacial lake hidden 3.5 kilometres beneath the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet.

A spokesperson for the Russian Antarctic Expedition in St Petersburg told New Scientist this morning that the drill made contact with water late last week and then automatically withdrew up the borehole, as planned.

That suggests the lake has been breached, but the team are now checking the level of water in the borehole and readings from pressure sensors to confirm that the water did come from the lake and not a pocket of water in the ice above the lake. 

Ice temperatures rise as you go deeper into the ice sheet, and approach melting point just above the lake, so the fact that the team hit liquid water doesn't necessarily mean they've reached the lake.

"For the time being we are waiting for official confirmation," said the spokesperson. An announcement is expected within the next two days.

Underwater Antarctic volcanoes discovered in the Southern Ocean - British Antarctic Survey

Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have discovered previously unknown volcanoes in the ocean waters around the remote South Sandwich Islands. Using ship-borne sea-floor mapping technology during research cruises onboard the RRS James Clark Ross, the scientists found 12 volcanoes beneath the sea surface — some up to 3km high.

They found 5km diameter craters left by collapsing volcanoes and 7 active volcanoes visible above the sea as a chain of islands. The research is important also for understanding what happens when volcanoes erupt or collapse underwater and their potential for creating serious hazards such as tsunamis.

Also this sub-sea landscape, with its waters warmed by volcanic activity creates a rich habitat for many species of wildlife and adds valuable new insight about life on earth. Sea-floor mapping technology reveals volcanoes beneath the sea surface.

Speaking at the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences in Edinburgh Dr Phil Leat from British Antarctic Survey said,

“There is so much that we don’t understand about volcanic activity beneath the sea — it’s likely that volcanoes are erupting or collapsing all the time. The technologies that scientists can now use from ships not only give us an opportunity to piece together the story of the evolution of our earth, but they also help shed new light on the development of natural events that pose hazards for people living in more populated regions on the planet.”

Underwater Antarctic volcanoes discovered in the Southern Ocean - British Antarctic Survey

Glacier Bleeding

What looks like blood gushes from a glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica.

The five-storey, red waterfall known as the Blood Falls got its name after explorer and geologist Griffith Taylor stumbled across it in 1911 and thought it resembled blood pouring from a wound. Scientists have found that the natural phenomenon occurs when iron oxide, trapped deep beneath the glacier in a hidden lake, reacts with microbes in the water.

Picture: CATERS NEWS

ESA Envisat Images: Improve safety in icy Southern Ocean

An award-winning new website is using realtime imagery from ESA's Envisat satellite to provide a wealth of information on sea ice to aid safe passage through the treacherous waters of the Antarctic.

Although remote, the Southern Ocean is an increasingly busy route for sea traffic.

These seas are used more and more to conduct scientific research, transport freight, harvest fertile fishing grounds and carry tourists to experience one of Earth's last wildernesses.

However, ever-changing pack ice and icebergs pose a serious danger to marine safety – as demonstrated by the loss of the MS Explorer tourist ship in 2007

Owing to the remote and inhospitable nature of the Southern Ocean, satellite imagery offers the only real practical means of obtaining timely information on sea ice required for the safe passage of marine traffic. While safety may be a primary concern, so is cost, as sea ice can significantly delay passage times.

For some years, ESA has been providing these key data to aid navigation – but the 'Polar View' ice-monitoring service in the Antarctic has recently been greatly improved by a wealth of satellite images made accessible through a new interactive website.

Record-breaking current found deep in Southern Ocean

Record-breaking current found deep in Southern Ocean

MORE than 3 kilometres down in part of the freezing Southern Ocean, water is flowing at more than 700 metres per hour, making this the fastest-moving deep ocean current ever found.

The powerful current was discovered thanks to a 175-kilometre string of sensors on the eastern flank of the submerged Kerguelen plateau, some 3000 kilometres south-west of Australia (Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo842).

With a flow of more than 8 million cubic metres per second, the current transports 40 times as much water as the Amazon. It is likely to be an important component of the global ocean "conveyor belt", which pushes water from the ocean surface to its greatest depths and back again, and has a direct influence on global temperatures.

Deep ocean currents are now being monitored for signs of change. The measurements already suggest that deep Antarctic waters are warming and becoming less buoyant, perhaps because of climate change.