Buried lake in Antarctica key to climatic change prediction
Thursday, October 27th, 2011 8:50:27 by Taimoor Tariq
Buried lake in Antarctica key to climatic change prediction
A few days back, scientists unearthed an ancient lake that was hidden deep beneath the ice sheets of the Western Antarctica. It has now been widely suggested by scientists that this discovery would give a lot of clues about the climatic changes and could
even help environmentalists predict future rise of sea levels.
A group of UK engineers and scientists are currently working at one of the most hostile and remote parts of the world. Lake Ellsworth, is buried 3kms under solid ice and scientists are now taking pictures of the lake and analysing the lake through the reflection
of sounds from explosions. Because of the enormous pressure of ice on top of it, the lake has not frozen and is liquid.
The lake is approximately 150 meters deep and is almost 10 km long. Many scientists have speculated that primitive life forms might be discovered in the lake as many primitive creatures survive at high pressures and low temperatures.
A researcher on the project team, Dr. David Pearce said,” All of the microorganisms we’re familiar with, things that we use to make food, things that we encounter in the environment are growing in conditions that we’re happy with and we consider to be good.
But there’s no reason for a microorganism why that is the best place to live. So these microorganisms have grown and adapted to exploit high pressure, low temperature, dark, different chemistry environments.”
Scientists feel that there is a lot of chance of finding complex forms of life including the microscopic sea bears but reveal that all discoveries depend a lot on the drilling. Researchers have said that they will use hot water in order to drill a hole whose
width would be equal to that of a CD and will take water samples through it.
Scientists expect to drill till the depth of the lake bed and are hopeful of finding life there. From viruses to bacteria, scientists are hopeful of finding archea and eukaryotes as they believe that these findings could help them understand about how life
actually began and how organisms evolved with the passage of time.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=1764
Posted by Taimoor Tariq
on Oct 27 2011. Filed under Sci-Tech.
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