The Lake Under Four Kilometres of Ice
Deep under the Antarctic ice lies a lake the size of a small country, sealed off from the outside world for perhaps 15 million years.
What was reported
Beneath the Russian Vostok Station, in one of the coldest places on Earth, lies Lake Vostok, a body of liquid water about 250 kilometres long, buried under nearly four kilometres of ice. Its existence was confirmed in 1996 by radar and satellite measurements.
It has been cut off from the atmosphere for millions of years, kept liquid by the pressure of the ice above and heat from the Earth below. In 2012, after decades of drilling, Russian scientists reached the lake's surface.
Explanations offered
Scientists hope the lake could hold life that has evolved in isolation, and it's studied as a model for icy moons like Europa. Some samples have been reported to contain traces of microbes, but they may have come from drilling fluid, and the results are debated.
- When
- Confirmed in 1996; reached in 2012
- Where
- Vostok Station, Antarctica
- Witnesses
- Russian and international scientists
- Status
- Being studied
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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