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The study of Antarctic Lake Vostok through ice borehole

DOI: 10.17586/1606-4313-2018-17-4-3-9
UDC 544.1; 532.1; 551.435.38

The study of Antarctic Lake Vostok through ice borehole

Zakharov A.A., Solovey V.A.

For citation: Zakharov A.A., Solovey V.A. The study of Antarctic Lake Vostok through ice borehole. Vestnik Mezhdunarodnoi akademii kholoda. 2018. No 4. p.3-9.

Abstract
The unique aquatic ecosystem of subglacial Antarctic Lake Vostok is isolated from the atmosphere and the biosphere for about 14 million years. The first opening of the lake by drilling wasin 2012, followed in 2015. These technical events did not bring new scientific information. Priority research tasks are measuring the oxygen content in the lake water and search for traces of life in the lake.The study of the lake meet with several problems, namely contamination of the borehole caused by drilling, formation of clathrate hydrates of R-141b freon in drilling liquid, and significant water level fluctuations inside the borehole when scientific equipment are submerged into. The technology based on the use of silicone fluid is considered in the article. It meets environmental requirements and will allow starting the study of the Lake Vostok aquatic environmen.

Keywords: Antarctica, subglacial Lake Vostok, lake water sampling, ice borehole, Freon R-141b, clathrate hydrates, silicone fluid.

All references

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