washington post article requires signup. :\ just a recent fox article here. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/16/scientists-to-drill-2-miles-to-buried-antarctic-lake/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w.../27/gIQAbGX0fQ_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop why wont anyone drill or dig down to the "money pit" on oak island??
I predict new/extinct microbes, and probably some interesting fossils in the sediment. And I also predict their findings won't be known to the public for six months or more. EDIT: Personally I think the most exciting thing we could find would be the blinding light of billions of bio-luminescent organisms. Fingers crossed.
[video=youtube;maQhn96AhuI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=maQhn96AhuI[/video]
If they find anything it'll just find some unique little microbes. I can't imagine that's a very rich environment. My understanding is we still wont get to find out for another year anyways as they aren't actually allowed to drill 'into' the lake. Just right above it.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. My guess is they have to remove the existing drilling gear and put in some sort of access / research gear. I'm envisioning some sort of airlock and tethered submersibles.
watched all the videos...very interesting stuff. torx should be in charge of updating this thread with new info as it comes up.
I forgot where I read it, but basically in order not to contaminate the water they drill RIGHT above the lake and the water will saturate up into the borehole and freeze. Next year they're going to drill and examine that portion. Maybe this will provide something more interesting:
Just finished the videos, pretty interesting stuff. I just wonder how they intend to communicate with and power the device through the ice. It wouldn't be able to pull an umbilical cord behind it because the ice would be freezing as it went. Unless somehow the umbilical would have contained within it some sort of heating element. No, I suspect it'll be completely self contained like a space probe.
No no, what they will find, will be... THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD! It's not a lake, it's a spaceship that melted it's way down through the ice!
