Russian Scientists Discovery Called into Question
Rhonda Moniz
March 25, 2013
Antarctica’s largest subglacial lake known as Lake Vostok is located beneath Russia’s Vostok Station, a Russian research station located at the southern Pole of Cold. The surface of Lake Vostok lies approximately 13,100 ft (4,000 m) under the ice surface. Measuring 250 km (160 mi) long by 50 km (30 mi) wide at its widest point, and covering an area of 15,690 km (6,060 sq mi) and an average depth of 344 m (1,129 ft). It has an estimated volume of 5,400 km (1,300 cu mi). The lake is divided into two deep basins by a ridge. The liquid water over the ridge is about 200 m (700 ft), compared to roughly 400 m (1,300 ft) deep in the northern basin and 800 m (2,600 ft) deep in the southern. Recently researchers found evidence of an unidentified organism in water samples brought up from Lake Vostok.