Lake Whillans is a lake located under a thick layer of ice in Antarctica. It is found beneath the Whillans Ice Stream, near the Ross Ice Shelf on the western part of the continent. The top of the lake is 800 meters (2,600 feet) below the surface of the ice. The lake covers an area of about 60 kilometers (20 square miles). So far, measurements show the lake is approximately 2 meters (7 feet) deep. The temperature of the lake is −0.49 °C, which is slightly below freezing due to the pressure from the ice above.
Lake Whillans and the Whillans Ice Stream are named after Dr. Ian Whillans, a scientist from Ohio State University who studies glaciers.
Discovery
The lake was first discovered in 2007 by Helen Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Data from a satellite laser tool on NASA's ICESat showed the ice in that area rising and falling, which led her team to believe a lake was present beneath the ice.
Research
On January 28, 2013, the WISSARD team announced they had drilled through 800 meters (2,600 feet) of ice to reach the surface of a lake under Antarctica. They used a hot-water drill to create a hole 30 centimeters (12 inches) wide. Over the next few days, the team collected water samples and took sediment cores from the lake bottom. Early tests showed the water and sediment contain more than 3,900 types of microscopic life. These bacteria survive without sunlight. The lake’s ecosystem seems to rely on chemical reactions involving ammonia and methane from sediments that are at least 120,000 years old.
WISSARD stated this project was the first to successfully collect clean samples from an Antarctic subglacial lake. Similar projects, such as those at Lake Vostok and Lake Ellsworth, have not yet found life or were stopped before completion.
These discoveries may help scientists understand how life might exist on other parts of the Solar System. For example, the moons Europa (around Jupiter) and Enceladus (around Saturn) are believed to have large amounts of liquid water hidden under thick layers of ice.
In January 2015, drilling near the grounding line (where ice meets the sea) revealed a group of fish, small crustaceans, and jellyfish living in the dark, cold water under an ice shelf. Camera images showed fish about 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long and amphipods.