Antarctica may be hiding a large lake under its ice 鈥� second only to Lake Vostok in size 颅鈥� according to data presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna this week.
Such subglacial lakes are of great interest because of the possibility that they could harbour unique life forms that may have existed in isolation, locked under ice for millions of years.
Although it doesn鈥檛 quite beat Lake Vostok鈥榮 240-kilometre by 60-kilometre size, the new lake is much closer to a research station. This would make it easier to approach and study in detail, says of Imperial College London, a member of the team that located the putative lake.
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The team鈥檚 claim comes from satellite imagery, in which they identified grooves on the ice surface similar to those present above known subglacial lakes and channels.
Ribbon-shaped lake
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen these strange, linear channels on the surface, and are inferring these are above massive, 1000-kilometre-long channels, and there鈥檚 a relatively large subglacial lake there too,鈥� said Siegert.
He says the lake is around 100 kilometres long by 10 kilometres wide and is ribbon-shaped.
The long channels and canyons that seem to extend from the lake appear to spread for more than 1000 kilometres towards the eastern coast of Antarctica on Princess Elizabeth Land, between Vestfold Hills and the West Ice Shelf.
Two channels in particular seem to turn upwards into the ice and may convey water out of the West Ice Shelf into the ocean.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the last un-researched part of Antarctica, so it鈥檚 very exciting news, but it鈥檚 still tentative pending full confirmation,鈥� says of the University of Aberystwyth, UK.
Siegert says that a team of collaborators from China and the US have recently flown over the region and gathered ice penetrating radar data that will likely confirm the existence of the features under the ice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e meeting in May to look at the data,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t will be a very good test of our hypothesis about the lake and channels.鈥�
Pole of ignorance
If the existence of the lake and the channels is confirmed, as Siegert expects, he says it will be a major boost for Antarctic science and for research on subglacial lakes.
Just 100 kilometres from the nearest research base 鈥� a stone鈥檚 throw on Antarctic scales 鈥� the new lake is far more accessible than others such as Lake Vostok, which is very remote.
That, says Siegert, should make it far easier to conduct vital investigations into the biology of the lake, to find out if it supports species unlike any others on the planet.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice to see some new techniques for revealing the characteristics of the last 鈥榩ole of ignorance鈥�,鈥� says , of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the US. 鈥淭he potential discovery of large canyons and lakes could have a big impact on our understanding of tectonic and hydrological evolution in this part of the ice sheet.鈥�
Read more: Frozen kingdom: The lost world under Antarctica鈥檚 ice
Article amended on 25 April 2016
When this article was first published, it misstated Lake Vostok鈥檚 width.
