There are several subglacial basins in East Antarctica but Lake Vostok is the most interesting for scientists, as its conditions are close to the ones on Europa – the Jupiter’s moon. So, the results of the exploration of Lake Vostok can shed light on one of the most important issues in astronomy – whether there could be living organisms somewhere besides Earth.
The subglacial lakes are the subjects to low temperatures (nearly -3 degrees Celsius), high pressure (about 350 atmospheres) and constant darkness (montana.edu). When drilling, the scientists found out that the temperature of the air is -89 degrees Celsius that is the lowest temperature that has ever been recorded on Earth (Templeton, G, 2013). The analyses of the ice flow modelling, the rates of the air-hydrate crystal growth and preliminary examination of the isotope record make evident that the glacier ice can be 1,000,000-year-old (montana.edu).
All these extreme conditions and the evidence that nothing outside could be input for nearly a million of years left no chances to find living organisms in Lake Vostok. But recently, over 3500 new species have been found with the help of metagenomics. Not only bacteria live in the lake, there are more than a hundred of species of eukaryotic organisms, for instance, more than 100 multicellular species (Templeton, G, 2013).
As noted, the conditions of Lake Vostok are close to the lakes that are found under the ice of Europa. So, this finding may imply the existence of life on Jupiter’s moon (Templeton, G, 2013).
Works cited
Martin, J., Siegert, M.J., Ellis-Evans, J.C., Tranter, M., Mayer, C., Petit, J.-R., Salamatin, A., Priscu, J. C. “Physical, chemical and biological processes in Lake Vostok and other Antarctic subglacial lakes.” montana.edu. 2001. Web. Accessed 10 February 2016 at
http://www.montana.edu/priscu/DOCS/Publications/SeigertEtAl2001Vostok.pdf
Templeton, G. “3,500+ species discovered in Lake Vostok, underneath miles of ice, in conditions similar to Jupiter’s Europa”. extremetech.com. 2013. Web. Accessed 10 February 2016 at http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160667-3500-species-discovered-in-lake-vostok-underneath-miles-of-ice-in-conditions-similar-to-jupiters-europa
