Researchers from Britain are preparing for an expedition in which they will go to a remote location in Antarctica and take samples from an ancient lake.
The lake is located underneath an ice sheet and the scientists will determine whether or not it has undetermined organisms that have yet to be discovered.
The lake, which is called Lake Ellsworth is located under an ice sheet more than two miles thick. The lake which contains fresh water, could be an area for scientists to discover never-before-seen organisms.
Further research could also provide an explanation for the ice sheets about the lake. The drilling of the ice sheet is set for December with researchers arriving in Antarctica towards the end of November. This is after sixteen years of planning to take samples from the lake which has been cut off from the sun for up to 1 million years.
Lake Ellsworth is 7 miles long and about 500 meters deep. Scientists plan to use a hot water drill to reach the fresh water lake. Martin Siegert, the lead investigator for the project and a glaciologist at the University of Bristol said that researchers and engineers will assemble in late November.
Drilling
The goal of the drilling is to take 24 small titanium canisters of lake water and sediment from the lake bottle while keeping both the samples and the lake environment undisturbed.
It will take three days of drilling to reach the surface of the lake and scientists will have about 24 hours to get the samples before the hole freezes over again.
Scientists also have tiny high definition video cameras that will showcase what is in the lake. "We're really looking forward to getting images back," Siegert said to Mother Nature Network.
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