Scientists Detect Signs of Life Deep Beneath Antarctic Ice

This is the first view beneath Lake Whillans under the Antarctic ice sheet, as seen through the borehole drilled by the WISSARD team.

Washington — A scientific team has drilled through Antarctic ice to a subglacial lake system, recovering samples that they believe contain bacteria, a discovery that could open new doors in understanding the resilience of life.

The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling project (WISSARD) brings together experts with various specialties to study the rivers and lakes deep beneath Antarctica's massive ice sheet. Satellite radar and other advanced mapping technologies have revealed the subglacial system only in recent years. The lakes vary in size, but the largest has been measured at roughly 19,000 square kilometers, comparable to Lake Ontario in the Great Lakes system of North America.

Successful drilling and retrieval of samples from this isolated ecosystem "hails a new era in polar science, opening a window for future interdisciplinary science in one of Earth's last unexplored frontiers," according to a statement from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the institution funding the project.

Though extensive testing must still be conducted, the researchers believe the samples retrieved from the lakes may contain microscopic life that has developed and survived in a world completely alien to life on the planet's surface. Learning more about life forms that survive without light or nutrients as we know them could lead to further understanding of survival in other extreme ecosystems and, perhaps, in icy worlds elsewhere in our solar system.

This expedition is the result of a decadelong planning process, involving scientists from eight U.S. institutions and four international institutions. Scientists and engineers of the WISSARD team have drilled 800 meters through Antarctica's glacier for the first time, retrieving water and sediment samples. The team expects these samples have not had contact with the atmosphere for millennia.

The WISSARD expedition has also collected video surveys of the lake floor and collected data on the chemical properties of the waters and sediments, which will fill out the profile of this previously unexplored world. Scientists will analyze the data in hopes of understanding more about subglacial microbial life, climate history and contemporary ice-sheet dynamics.

Even while WISSARD scientists are eager to learn about subglacial life, they approach the work cautiously in order to protect the ecosystem and prevent the introduction of any contaminants from the surface.

The hot-water drill used to penetrate the glacier was specially designed and developed for this purpose. It was fitted with special features to prevent contamination and ensure retrieval of clean samples.

The project brings together specialists in geoscience, biological science and planetary science. International members of the team come from the University of Venice in Italy; the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica; and the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.