Antarctic lakes
There are hundreds of antarctic lakes, in Antarctica.[1][2][3] In 2018 researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute's Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research published a study they claimed cast doubt on earlier estimate that there were almost 400 subglacial antarctic lakes.[4] Antarctica also has some relatively small regions that are clear of ice and snow, and there are some surface lakes in these regions. They called for on the ground seismic studies, or drilling, to determine a more reliable number.
These lakes are buried beneath deep layers of glacial ice.[1][2][3] When a glacier is very thick, the pressure at the bottom is great enough that liquid water can exist at temperatures where water would freeze, at regular pressures. The ice above Lake Vostok, the largest antarctic lake, is approximately 4 kilometres thick.
Scientists studying the lakes, by careful drilling and water sampling, suggest conditions there may resemble the oceans believed to exist on planet Jupiter's moon Europa.[2][3]
Selected Antarctic lakes
| name | surface area |
depth | volume | below surface |
notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ablation Lake | 117 metres (384 ft)+ | 500 metres (1,600 ft) | ||||
| Algae Lake |
| |||||
| Amphitheatre Lake |
| |||||
| Beaver Lake |
| |||||
| Lake Boeckella |
| |||||
| Lake Burton | 1.35 square kilometres (0.52 sq mi) | 9,690,000 cubic metres (342,000,000 cu ft) |
| |||
| Changing Lake |
| |||||
| Concordia Lake | 900 square kilometres (350 sq mi) | 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) | ||||
| Lake Ellsworth | ||||||
| Forlidas Pond |
| |||||
| Lake Whillans |
References
- ^ a b "Appeal to the Duma on Lake Vostok, Antarctica" (PDF). Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2011.
- ^ a b c
Quirin Schiermeier (2010-03-23). "Teams set for first taste of Antarctic lakes". Nature (journal). Retrieved 2018-12-06.
Over the past 40 years, radar imagery has revealed around 150 freshwater lakes of various sizes and ages beneath the massive Antarctic ice sheet. Some have been isolated from the outside world for millions of years, raising the possibility that they hold unique life forms. The dark, nutrient-deprived environment of the lakes could resemble conditions on Jupiter's moon Europa, which is assumed to hold a large ocean beneath its frozen surface.
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Peter Aldhous (2014-08-20). "First samples of Antarctic lake reveal thriving life". New Scientist magazine. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
Antarctica is home to about 400 subglacial lakes, many of which are linked in drainage basins. Priscu calls it 'the planet's largest wetland'.
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"Far fewer lakes below the East Antarctic Ice Sheet than previously believed". Science Daily magazine. 2018-11-07. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
Thanks to our data, we can now fill in some of the blank spots on the map of Antarctica." However, when it comes to large lakes -- they had expected to find ones as large as Lake Constance -- the scientists came up empty-handed, even though they analysed the radar data for every known lake criterion.
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R.B. Heywood (1977-05-26). "A Limnological survey of the Ablation Point area, Alexander Island, Antarctica" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: 39-54. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
Two of the lakes are unusual in that they are in contact with seawater from George VI Sound which is covered by an ice shelf, 100-500 m thick, and which separates Alexander Island from the Antarctic mainland.
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"Antarctica Detail: Ablation Lake". US Geographic Service. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
A pro-glacial tidal lake in Ablation Valley, Alexander Island, with stratified saline and fresh water and depths exceeding 117 meters. The feature is dammed in the upper portion by ice that pushes into the lake from the adjacent George VI Ice Shelf. Named after the valley following British Antarctic Survey (BAS) limnological research from 1973.
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"Antarctica Detail: Concordia Subglacial Lake". US Geographic Service. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
First located in Dec. 1999. The name derives from the nearby Italian Concordia research station.
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Malte Thoma, Klaus Grosfeld, Irina Filina, Christoph Mayer (2009-08-30). "Modelling flow and accreted ice in subglacial Lake Concordia, Antarctica Author links open overlay panelb Show more https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2009.06.037". Science Direct magazine. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
This paper focuses on Lake Concordia — the second largest subglacial lake in Antarctica over which substantial geophysical data has been collected. This lake is covered by about 4000 m ice and is located near Dome C.
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"Antarctica Detail: Forlidas Pond". US Geographic Service. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
The only pond in the northern Pensacola Mountains, it is of much interest to biologists.
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