REAL LIFE NEWS: LAKES UNDER ICE FOUND IN CANADA
by Hazed
Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, has lakes submerged under layers of ice. Now researchers have discovered similar bodies of subglacial water high in the Canadian Arctic, which could shed new light on those found on Europa.
The Canadian lakes have been found beneath over 500 metres of ice. It is estimated that the maximum temperature of the water in these lakes is minus10.5 degrees centigrade. That means it would need to be very salty to stop it from freezing – five times as salty as seawater.
Europa’s subsurface ocean is thought to have similar cold, salty conditions.
Other subglacial lakes in Greenland and Antarctica contain fresh water which is generated by ice at the base melting.
The two lakes showed up on a radar survey of the Devon Ice Cap, in Canada’s northern Nunavut territory. The ice cap was considered to be completely frozen to the bedrock beneath, so the researcher who spotted the lakes was not expecting to find them. “I was super surprised, and a little bit puzzled,” Anja Rutishauser, the study’s lead author, said of the discovery. “I was definitely not looking for subglacial lakes.”
Researchers want to continue searching the area because there may be an entire network of lakes in the region. More importantly, they want to examine the potential for these environments to host microbial life.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43701375