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Friday, October 21, 2011

Reveals the hidden life in Antarctica

The desire and preparation to do Professor Martin Siegert and colleagues since 15 years ago finally accomplished. This October 2011 they begin to do drilling to investigate Lake Ellsworth is buried under the ice at a depth of three kilometers in the Antarctic.

"It's now," said Siegert of Edinburgh University, "we have the expertise and technology to drill a thick layer of ice in Antarctica, and collect samples without contaminating and polluting the environment." Difficult terrain is so challenging. Understandably, the researchers had to work on the most extreme temperatures in the world, which is minus 254 degrees Celsius. They also have to drill as deep as 3.4 kilometers of ice to reach Lake Ellsworth, which buried ice since 1 million years ago.
How the team will get to the lake. (Picture from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/)
Lake Ellsworth, which is on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. (Picture from: http://www.phenomenica.com/)
Antarctica's hidden world and has not been much studied. Siegert and his colleagues had long prepared the scientific mission "This is frontier science project with engineering techniques and cutting edge technology," he said.
Lake Ellsworth is located 3.2 km beneath the ice and is approximately 105 m deep. (Picture from: http://www.treehugger.com/)
For this project, British scientists formed a consortium, the British Antarctic Survey. They come from Environitient Natural Research Council and the eight universities in the UK. Their job is to look for life in extreme environments and discover the secrets locked in the sediment at the bottom of the lake.

This week the 10-member team of British researchers cover 10 thousand kilometers to reach the Antarctic. They carry nearly 70 tons of sophisticated equipment that the process helped the business world. For a year they will do the research. "To find life in the lake," said Dr. David Pearce, Coordinator of Science British Antarctic Survey.
The British Antarctic Survey expedition will drill through three kilometres of ice to reach Lake Ellsworth. (Picture from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/)

So far, the scientists hope to find new life forms hidden for hundreds of thousands of years in Antarctica. This finding may reveal clues about the evolution of life on Earth and other planets.

According to David, the first phase of this ambitious mission is to collect water and sediment samples from lakes that lie buried beneath the solid ice. The research team then lower the tool of titanium to measure and take samples of water. Then followed a tool to extract sediment from the lake frozen.

Research by a team of Ellsworth as England made the first lakes studied. There are 387 lakes in the Antarctic ice sheet is buried. In this layer is suspected that microbes capable of evolving in the cold and isolated life.

Sediments at the bottom can also reveal important clues to the history of life on the lake and its history, including the disaster that occurred in the past. According to David Pearce, find life in a lake isolated from the biosphere for a half million this year will tell us the potential and constraints for life on earth.

Also, it will be able to give instructions evolution of life on Earth and other planets. "It could be that we did not find anything, but this research is important because it will determine the limits at which life can no longer exist on this planet."

Efforts to drill and take samples performed with a unique tool along 5 meters. Drilling machine was designed and built by engineers at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.

It was made of high quality titanium to ensure sterility. In addition, to give maximum strength to collect 24 samples of lake water at different depths. Including taking sediment at the bottom of the lake .*** [UWD | DAILYMAIL | KORAN TEMPO 3676]
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