There are hundreds of antarctic lakes in Antarctica.[1][2][3][4][5][6] In 2018 researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research published a study they claimed cast doubt on the earlier estimate that there were almost 400 subglacial antarctic lakes.[7] Antarctica also has some relatively small regions that are clear of ice and snow, and there are some surface lakes in these regions. They called for on the ground seismic studies, or drilling, to determine a more reliable number.
These lakes are buried beneath deep layers of glacial ice.[1][2][3] When a glacier is very thick, the pressure at the bottom is great enough that liquid water can exist at temperatures where water would freeze, at regular pressures. The ice above Lake Vostok, the largest antarctic lake, is approximately 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) thick.
Scientists studying the lakes, by careful drilling and water sampling, suggest conditions there may resemble the oceans believed to exist on planet Jupiter's moon Europa.[2][3]
| Name | Surface area |
Depth | Volume | Below surface |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ablation Lake | 117 metres (384 feet)+ | 500 metres (1,600 feet) | The lake contains both saline and fresh water layers.[8][9] | ||
| Algae Lake | An ice-free lake in the ice-free Bunger Hills highlands. | ||||
| Amphitheatre Lake | A surface lake. | ||||
| Beaver Lake | A surface lake, near a "stagnant" glacier, its name derives from the STOL Beaver aircraft used to supply a nearby base, not from the presence of actual beavers. | ||||
| Lake Boeckella | A surface lake, named for the crustaceans from the genus Boeckella it hosts. | ||||
| Lake Burton | 1.35 square kilometres (0.52 square miles) | 18.3 metres (60 feet) | 9,690,000 cubic metres (342,000,000 cubic feet) | A meromictic and saline lagoon. | |
| Concordia Lake | 900 square kilometres (350 square miles) | 250 metres (820 feet) | 200 cubic kilometres (48 cu mi) | 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) | A large subglacial lake, discovered in 1999.[10] In 2009 it was the second largest subglacial lake to be studied.[11] |
| Lake Ellsworth | 30 square kilometres (12 square miles) | 150 metres (490 feet) | 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) | ||
| Forlidas Pond | This small pond is the only pond in the northern Pensacola Mountains.[12] | ||||
| Lake Whillans | 60 square kilometres (23 square miles) | ~2 metres (6.6 feet) | 800 metres (2,600 feet) |
Over the past 40 years, radar imagery has revealed around 150 freshwater lakes of various sizes and ages beneath the massive Antarctic ice sheet. Some have been isolated from the outside world for millions of years, raising the possibility that they hold unique life forms. The dark, nutrient-deprived environment of the lakes could resemble conditions on Jupiter's moon Europa, which is assumed to hold a large ocean beneath its frozen surface.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Antarctica is home to about 400 subglacial lakes, many of which are linked in drainage basins. Priscu calls it 'the planet’s largest wetland'.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet, these subglacial drainage channels are connected to numerous subglacial lakes.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Nearly 4,000 species of microbes inhabit Lake Whillans, which lies beneath 2,625 feet (800 meters) of ice in West Antarctica, researchers report today (Aug. 20) in the journal Nature. These are the first organisms ever retrieved from a subglacial Antarctic lake.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Thanks to our data, we can now fill in some of the blank spots on the map of Antarctica." However, when it comes to large lakes -- they had expected to find ones as large as Lake Constance -- the scientists came up empty-handed, even though they analysed the radar data for every known lake criterion.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
Two of the lakes are unusual in that they are in contact with seawater from George VI Sound which is covered by an ice shelf, 100-500 m thick, and which separates Alexander Island from the Antarctic mainland.
A pro-glacial tidal lake in Ablation Valley, Alexander Island, with stratified saline and fresh water and depths exceeding 117 meters. The feature is dammed in the upper portion by ice that pushes into the lake from the adjacent George VI Ice Shelf. Named after the valley following British Antarctic Survey (BAS) limnological research from 1973.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
First located in Dec. 1999. The name derives from the nearby Italian Concordia research station.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
This paper focuses on Lake Concordia — the second largest subglacial lake in Antarctica over which substantial geophysical data has been collected. This lake is covered by about 4000 m ice and is located near Dome C.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
The only pond in the northern Pensacola Mountains, it is of much interest to biologists.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)