We know more about Mars than we know about Antarctica’s subglacial environment, but new information about its nature is changing the way we view the continent. Over December 2018 – January 2019, the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) project setup a field site roughly 500 miles from the South Pole with 50 scientists, drillers, and support staff. Using a clean-access custom hot water drill, they bored 4,000 feet into the ice to sample from Mercer Subglacial Lake, for the first time ever. The SALSA project is continually uncovering new knowledge about this new biome through an integrative study of subglacial geobiology, water column and sedimentary organic carbon, and geobiological processes in one of the largest subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. Check out our latest journal articles here, our latest can be found on Nature’s ISME.
Experience the discovery in our feature-length film, The Lake at the Bottom of the World now available on Amazon, iTunes and others. You can find us on social channels as @salsaantarctica.
*Please Note: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Individuals using any material selected from the SALSA website for inclusion in any type of publication or education and outreach activity should contact a member of the SALSA Executive Committee for permission and to ensure that the material is being used correctly.
