Comments on: Broken Ice Shelves Revealed New Antarctic Underwater Species. http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/01/broken-ice-shelves-revealed-new-antarctic-underwater-species/ The Neat Side of the Web Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:57:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Daniel Kim http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/01/broken-ice-shelves-revealed-new-antarctic-underwater-species/comment-page-1/#comment-82960 Daniel Kim Fri, 02 Mar 2007 03:49:04 +0000 http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/01/broken-ice-shelves-revealed-new-antarctic-underwater-species/#comment-82960 I am curious about the possible fate of the submerged Antarctic lake called Lake Vostok. This lake is under 13,000 feet of ice, and its waters may have been cut off from the rest of the world between one-half and one million years ago. While it is colder than the nominal freezing point of water, the great pressure of the ice sheet allows the lake to remain liquid. Ice cores show some evidence of microbial life in the lake, and it is fun to imagine what kind of ecosystem may exist under such unearthly and isolated conditions. A major melt-off of Antarctic ice could relieve some of the pressure on this and other subglacial lakes. Since the waters of Lake Vostok are saturated with about 50 times the oxygen of water at sea level, a drop in pressure may make it suddenly release its gases in a manner similar to a shaken soft drink. Much of the information given here is from the Wikipedia entry on Lake Vostok. I am curious about the possible fate of the submerged Antarctic lake called Lake Vostok. This lake is under 13,000 feet of ice, and its waters may have been cut off from the rest of the world between one-half and one million years ago. While it is colder than the nominal freezing point of water, the great pressure of the ice sheet allows the lake to remain liquid.

Ice cores show some evidence of microbial life in the lake, and it is fun to imagine what kind of ecosystem may exist under such unearthly and isolated conditions. A major melt-off of Antarctic ice could relieve some of the pressure on this and other subglacial lakes. Since the waters of Lake Vostok are saturated with about 50 times the oxygen of water at sea level, a drop in pressure may make it suddenly release its gases in a manner similar to a shaken soft drink.

Much of the information given here is from the Wikipedia entry on Lake Vostok.

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