Alright,
let’s settle one thing right away. When I say “life” in Antarctica I am not referring
to human life, Ichthyologic, or even flora. I’m referring the resilient
microbial kind. The kind of organisms that, good or bad, are all around you
every day. Now I know some of you are like, “well that’s dumb…I thought we were
gonna find a new species of fish or something cool like that.” Well I’m sorry
if you feel that way, and if you do, you should turn back now, because this
article is not written for you. Not that I have the attention of all you single-cellular
eccentrics out there lets discuss a little bit about what I mean when I use the
term “extremophile.”
Those
of you not well versed in microbiology may not be familiar with the term. An
Extremophile is a microbe capable of not just living, but thriving in
environments we thought previously to be uninhabitable. Thermophiles have been
discovered loving life in Yellowstone’s geysers, hyper-thermophiles have even
been discovered in the depths of the ocean living along the vents of the ocean
floor. Temperatures here would be insanely high, but the extreme pressure keeps
the water from being able to boil by inhibiting vapor formation. These
deep-water thermophiles survive off of super dense methane and other elements
they can scrounge. The extreme heat is actually necessary to their survival,
keeping the membranes loose so as to be able to stimulate reproduction.
In
short…cool stuff.
It’s
not nearly as cool as the thought of finding even more new life on our very own planet, especially in an environment
as unforgiving as the frigid wasteland of Antarctica. It was here that the
coldest temperature on Earth was ever recorded in the early 80s. (A whopping -89.2
degrees Celsius. That’s -128 degrees Fahrenheit for perspective. That’s ****ing
cold!!!) For an organism to survive here, it would have to be extremely hardy.
Hence the name, extremophile. A soldier of the microbial world if you will.
That’s
why Lake Vostok has had many skeptics over the decades since its discovery.
Many scientists (very reputable ones at that) have long since thought that
because of the extreme temperatures on the surface, no life could exist below
the two miles of ice separating Vostok Station from one of the last untouched
bastions of pristine life on this planet. But then again, Lake Vostok itself
came under criticism. In the beginning, when Vostok Station was built in 1957,
they didn’t even know it was there.
A Cold History
Vostok
Station is located 1,300 km inland. That’s a pretty remote hike for supplies,
but this was essential to their research. Because of its closeness to the south
geomagnetic pole it made it perfect for magnetosphere observation. It operated
year round for 37 years and was temporarily shut down in 1994. (but we’ll get
to why that happened in a later segment.) What really makes it unique is that
it was accidentally built directly over the shallow end of Lake Vostok. Hidden
beneath researchers for the next 17 years was what could possibly be the
missing link to discovering life on another planet!
It wasn't until 1974 when a British flyover found something interesting.
Underneath the ice they found mountains, which was to be expected, Antarctica
was flash frozen after all, but suddenly there was a break in the mountains and
a completely flat surface bounced back to their equipment leading them to only
one conclusion…it had to be a lake. Scientists and geologists scoffed at the preposterous
assumption. After all, how could a lake exist in such extremely low
temperatures? Liquid water in those condition wasn't just improbable, it was impossible.
As
humans time and time again prove to each other, it seems nothing is impossible. Not every scientist was convinced that this couldn't happen. Some geologists suggested that tectonic hot-spots underneath
Antarctica had caused geothermic heating to occur. If this was the case then it
was very likely a lake could exist
down there. The heat from the core of the Earth coming up through vents beneath
the ice would cause it to melt from the bottom up. After awhile you would have
a pool of water, deep as the shifting of the plates beneath it. It would cause
a pocket of air to heat up between the water and the ice shelf above. The
temperature would be just enough to sustain the ice above from melting any
further and to keep the water below from freezing back to solid. Geothermic
insulation, sexy.
But
that’s one theory. The other theory (and more likely in my opinion), is that
the lake itself is over 30 million years old and flash froze over around 10 to
15 million years ago. If that’s the
case then it is far more likely that
there could be life down there then if the ice had just gradually melted from
the bottom up over time. And if life does indeed exist down there, it could be
very strange and exotic life. I mean, it would be millions of years old, if it
had found a way to adapt to the sudden change in climate and reproduce over
that time period we could learn so much more about the birth of this big blue
rock we share the surface of.
Still,
not everyone was convinced. So there the lake sat, beneath the workers building
Vostok station in 1957, below the baffled British Airmen in 1974, until 1991.
It would take almost two decades before Jeff Ridley, would break the baffling
mystery of what lay miles below the Russian’s feet. Sometimes it just takes a
while for technology to catch up.
 |
| (Fig. 1) |
You
can imagine with such incredibly low temperatures that survival would take a
dominant role in life at Vostok station. If you thought that, then you are correct.
 |
| (Fig. 2) |
As I mentioned before being that it’s so far inland it makes it
difficult to get supplies to the station. The perilous journey would be
undertaken from Mirny station, an outpost on the coastline of Antarctica. It
wasn’t just being resupplied that was an issue either. Extreme cold plays hell
with the human bodies complex systems. So how did the scientists keep warm?
Butter.
That’s
right. Lots and lots of butter. They’d eat it by the stick. Butter is rich in
fat. The cold causes the human body to burn its stores of fat and muscle in
order to keep blood pumping through all the vital regions. The colder the
weather, the faster your fat burns. With the carbohydrate rich butter and a
little bit of vodka, the Russian scientists made the best of their stay at
Vostok.
(Fig 1. Lake Vostok, satellite imagery)
(Fig 2. Lake Vostok in relation to Antarctica)
Uh, Houston…What Am I
Looking At?
In
1991, working out of London, Jeff Ridley helped launch ERS-1 (European
Remote-Sensing Satellite) into orbit and set it to work above Antarctica. What
he found astounded him. The original fly over in the 70's was correct, there was
in fact a body of water hidden beneath that thick sheet of ice. The massive
size of it made it unmistakable. This discovery however raised even more
questions than it answered. Now we know it’s there, how did it form? Does it
have an external water supply feeding it? How old is it? Does it contain life?
It’s
quite possible that it does. But how do they get down to it without
contaminating it? That was the ultimate question. But as it turns out, the
scientists here at Vostok on Earth weren’t alone…no, I’m not talking about
aliens…well, not exactly.
See,
NASA took an interest in Lake Vostok possibly containing life, and it wasn’t
just because Ridley was using space imagery to identify it and they wanted to
get in on the game too. It was because if microbial life was indeed possible in
such extreme condition as Lake Vostok, then it could pave the way for programs
to help discover the same kind of potential life existing right here in our
very own solar system. Jupiter. She has many moons. Each one of them is interesting
but because of the Antarctic expedition below the ice sheet, one moon has become
of particular fascination. Europa. We’ll discuss that in further detail next
time here at “To Infinity and…In Theory”.
Till
then, have an extremophile day!
-Ryan
Sanders
 |
| To Be Continued...On Europa ;) |
For further reading on the history of
Vostok Station and Lake Vostok, you can follow any of the links below. Happy
learning!
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