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Westarctica (talk | contribs) (Created page with "350px|thumb|Drill hole created by SALSA scientists to penetrate subglacial Lake Mercer '''Lake Mercer''' is a subglacial lake in Westarctica...") |
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[[File:Mercer-Drill-Hole.jpg|350px|thumb|Drill hole created by SALSA scientists to penetrate subglacial Lake Mercer]] | [[File:Mercer-Drill-Hole.jpg|350px|thumb|Drill hole created by SALSA scientists to penetrate subglacial Lake Mercer]] | ||
'''Lake Mercer''' is a subglacial lake in [[Westarctica]]covered by a sheet of ice 1,067 meters (3,501 feet) thick; the water below is hydraulically active, with water replacement times on the order of a decade from the [[Ross Sea]]. | '''Lake Mercer''' is a subglacial lake in [[Westarctica]] covered by a sheet of [[ice]] 1,067 meters (3,501 feet) thick; the water below is hydraulically active, with water replacement times on the order of a decade from the [[Ross Sea]]. | ||
Lake Mercer is identified as high risk for a collapse of the [[West Antarctic Ice Sheet]] caused by [[global warming]]. Studies suggest that Mercer Lake as well as other subglacial lakes appear to be linked, with drainage events in one reservoir causing filling and follow-on drainage in adjacent lakes. | Lake Mercer is identified as high risk for a collapse of the [[West Antarctic Ice Sheet]] caused by [[global warming]]. Studies suggest that Mercer Lake as well as other subglacial lakes appear to be linked, with drainage events in one reservoir causing filling and follow-on drainage in adjacent lakes. | ||
==Exploration== | ==Exploration== | ||
Helen Amanda Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered subglacial Lake Mercer by accident in 2007, while using satellite radar soundings to search for the grounding line of a glacier. On 28 December 2018, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) team, where Fricker serves on the executive committee of the project, announced they had reached Mercer Lake after two days of melting their way through 1,067 m (3,501 ft) of ice with a high-pressure hot-water drill. | Helen Amanda Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered subglacial Lake Mercer by accident in 2007, while using satellite radar soundings to search for the grounding line of a [[glacier]]. On 28 December 2018, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) team, where Fricker serves on the executive committee of the project, announced they had reached Mercer Lake after two days of melting their way through 1,067 m (3,501 ft) of ice with a high-pressure hot-water drill. | ||
==Discovery of ancient life== | ==Discovery of ancient life== | ||