Estimation of the freezing process for lake water in the near-contact section of the 5G borehole with subglacial lake Vostok (Antarctica)

DOI: 10.21047/1606-4313-2017-16-2-73-77
UDC 622.243.23

Estimation of the freezing process for lake water in the near-contact section of the 5G borehole with subglacial lake Vostok (Antarctica)

Dmitriyev A.N. , Bolshunov A.V., Serbin D.V.

For citation: Dmitriev A.N., Bolshunov A.V., Serbin D.V. Estimation of the freezing process for lake water in the near-contact section of the 5G borehole with subglacial lake Vostok (Antarctica). Vestnik Mezhdunarodnoi akademii kholoda. 2017. No 2. p. 73-77

Abstract
5G borehole drilled at Vostok Russian Research Station in Antarctica is currently the deepest ice hole ever drilled in the ice shields of Greenland and the Antarctic continent. This drilling project produced data that predetermined research trends for decades to come. Further surveys will provide new information on the lake configuration and depths as well as the thickness and structure of its bottom sediments. This will help to carry out additional simulations of thermodynamic properties of the glacier-subglacial lake system. Sampling of the lake water is a key task to secure significant progress in the research of this unique natural object. Solution of this problem is a primary objective for further investigations in 5G Borehole. Unsealing Lake Vostok for a short time and collecting water samples from its surface helps to obtain source information about its current condition. This paper presents results of freezing time calculations for the lake water with ‘positive’ temperature that entered the borehole once the subglacial lake was unsealed. These calculations were made using independent techniques. The paper studies temperature conditions in the borehole at the interface with the subglacial lake.

Keywords: Antarctica, deep drilling, ice sheet, ice core, borehole, unsealing, lake water, heat transfer, subglacial Lake Vostok.


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