Scientists have done something they have been working on for over two decades: successfully drilled more than three kilometres through sheer Antarctic ice into a freshwater lake to take a sample. All they really know now is that Lake Vostok has had no contact with atmospheric pollutants for millions of years.

Lake Vostok measures 260 kilometres in length, and 48 kilometres at its widest point, and it lies just over three kilometres beneath the ice in Antarctica. It is known as a subglacial lake.

A diagram showing the drilling process..

There are some 400 known subglacial lakes in Antarctica and a process called geothermal energy warms them, which is essentially built up heat rising from the Earth’s core to the surface.

Yesterday, Russian scientists confirmed they’d reached the surface of the lake for the first time, and had accrued 40 litres of water that had been brought to the surface for testing.

Lev Savatyugin a researcher with Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute:

There is no other place on Earth that has been in isolation for more than 20 million years. It’s a meeting with the unknown.

His boss, and the head of Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Valery Lukin, has previously likened the accomplishment to that of the race to the moon.

Many of the scientists believe they are going to find unique organisms and bacteria previously unknown to us.

Follow this link to see more photographs and learn more about this fascinating adventure that began its drilling process in 1989.

[Source: DailyMail]