Sub-Glacial Lake Drilling and the special case of Lake Vostok
For many years ASOC has called on Antarctic Treaty governments to take special care of the sub-glacial lakes being considered as candidates for drilling, invoking the Precautionary Principle. ASOC has urged that if a penetration is to be attempted, it should be based on the best science and use the very best, least risky technology in order not to harm these ancient pristine lakes.
In 2007 an international group of scientists developed Guidelines for penetrating sub-glacial Antarctic Lakes – (click here to read the Executive Summary). These important Guidelines stress precaution and protection of these invaluable lakes by using new technology. You can read the NSF press release on the new Guidelines by clicking here.
Ignoring those Guidelines, Russia continues to move forward toward penetration – using its dirty borehole and out-dated technology – hoping to do so either in 2007 or 2008. ASOC is calling on Russia not to penetrate Lake Vostok. Click here to read our appeal.
Lake Vostok is a large (10,000km2), presumably fresh water body located beneath four km of ice at 77 degrees S, 105 degrees E in East Antarctica. The lake is approximately 250km long and 50km wide, with depths ranging from 500-10m. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleoclimatic record of 400,000 years, although the lake may have been isolated for a much longer time. Because of this, it is believed that the water inside Lake Vostok could contain new life forms and unique geochemical processes. Naturally this is of significant interest to governments and scientists. However, the environmental impact of drilling into the lake is not fully understood, and is seen as being dangerous by many scientists around the world who have been involved in the debates the past decade.
Image: ABC News
(For an impressive slide show on Lake Vostok, visit here)
So what's the problem? Basically the issue turns on the reality that it is close to impossible to penetrate an isolated ecosystem buried two miles under the ice without contaminating it. The catch 22 inherent in Russia’s desire to penetrate Lake Vostok as quickly as possible is that the very thing that makes it unique - its millenia of isolation from the rest of the world - cannot be explored without risking introduction of the outer world to the Lake’s waters.
Can we penetrate Lake Vostok without ruining it? No one knows. For a number of years Russia has wanted to penetrate the Lake, but the project was delayed until 2003-2004, awaiting preparation of a Comprehensive Environmental Assessment (CEE) of the implications and mitigation measures to reduce the risk. As the years went by, Russia continued drilling closer to the surface of the Lake. By the 2007 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Russia had completed all steps in the CEE process under the rules of the Environmental Protocol, and announced that in spite of continuing problems with the old borehole (which is full of kerosene) and the conventional technology being used, it intended to penetrate the Lake in 2008 or 2009.
What's the rush? Lake Vostok has sat untouched for millennia. Another few years to ensure the protection of this unique resource won't hurt.
Click here for an in-depth story about some of the scientific research being done on Lake Vostok, and here for a story about a new map of the Lake.
ASOC Papers on Lake Vostok:
ASOC Position on Recent Developments in Subglacial Lake Exploration (Excerpt from ASOC Report to XXV ATCM, Warsaw, Poland, 2002)
Applying Environmental Impact Assessment to Lake Vostok (ASOC 2001 Paper, SALE GOS Workshop, The Hague)
Options for Lake Vostok
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News Articles about Lake Vostok:
Raiders of the Lost Lake 8.6.07 Damninteresting.com
Miles Below Antarctic Ice, A Freshwater Lake May Harbor Ancient Life 3.3.01 Earth Institute
Bacteria May Thrive in Antarctica's Buried Lake Vostok 12.9.03 National Science Foundation
New Map of Antarctica's Lake Vostok Reveals Two Distinct Parts 7.7.04 Earth Institute
NSF Report on Sub-Glacial Lake Penetration 5.31.07 National Science Foundation
NAS Report on Sub-Glacial Lakes (Executive Summary)