Lake Untersee
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| Lake Untersee | |
|---|---|
| Location | Schirmacher Oasis, Dronning Maud Land |
| Coordinates | |
| Lake type | subglacial |
| Basin countries | (Antarctica) |
| Surface area | 11.4 km² |
| Max. depth | 169 m |
| Surface elevation | 563 m |
| References | Wand et al. |
Lake Untersee, also known as Lake Unter-See, is the largest and deepest subglacial lake in the interior of East Antarctica. It is approximately 6.5 km long and 2.5 km wide and permanently covered with ice with an average thickness of 3.0 m in summer.[1] The lake is dammed by the Anuchin Glacier feeding the lake and has no outlet. Water is only lost through evaporation and ablation of the ice cover.
The water chemistry is peculiar with high pH ranging between 9.8 and 12.1, supersaturation with dissolved oxygen (150 %), and a very low primary production. The water temperature is permanently below 1 °C.[2] The lake's sediments may produce more methane than any other natural body of water on our planet.[3]
First discovered by the German Antarctic Expedition 1938-39.
In 2008 an expedition under Richard Hoover of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be using the lake as a testbed in its hunt for extra-terrestrial life. The conditions of the lake closely mimic what they think they will find on other moons and planets that contain water ice and methane. If they find "extremophile" life in Untersee, they may find it elsewhere in space. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ Wand et al., "Evidence for physical and chemical stratification in Lake Untersee (central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica" Antarctic Science, Vol. 9 (1), p. 43-45, 1997
- ^ "Relationship between ice cover, hydrology and sedimentation of Lake Untersee (East Antarctica) - a key to the Holocene climate reconstruction" Eos Trans. AGU, 81 (48), Fall Meet. Suppl., 2000
- ^ a b Hoover et al. Science@NASA Extremophile Hunt Begins
