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Antarctica is not just a desolate ice sheet, but also has 400 known lakes, canyons, and streams beneath it. The immense pressure allows water to remain liquid, and Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake. Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, and only peaceful scientific research is allowed. Vostok Station holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth.
The name Antarctica conjures up images of desolate, impenetrable ice sheets dotted with the occasional penguin, but beneath those icy climes is another world. Researchers are beginning to map the 400 known lakes, as well as canyons, streams and other geological features, that exist far beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. The trick, it turns out, is that the immense pressure produced by the surface ice allows the water at depth to remain liquid, even below normal freezing temperatures. Water stays relatively warm thanks to the heat from the Earth’s core and the friction created by the ice flowing over the bedrock. The underwater world under the ice includes the freshwater lake Vostok, the largest subglacial lake ever discovered. With an area of 4,830 square miles (12,500 square km) and an average depth of 1,411 feet (430 m), Lake Vostok is the world’s sixth largest lake by volume and 16th largest by area. But don’t count on visiting soon: The surface of Lake Vostok is more than 13,000 feet (about 4 km) below the ice cap.
The cold hard facts about Antarctica:
Technically, Antarctica is a desert and at 5.4 million square miles (14 million square km), it’s the largest desert in the world.
Thanks to the Antarctic Treaty System, adopted by 53 nations since it came into force in 1961, the only activity allowed in Antarctica is peaceful scientific research; no mining or military activity is permitted.
Vostok Station, a Russian research outpost near the center of East Antarctica, holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth; it dropped to -128.6 degrees F (-89.2 degrees C) there in 1983.
