The Plan to Unlock Lake Vostok

I have a new article out today in Science:

After a 6-year pause to consider the risks of environmental contamination, a Russian research team will resume drilling through the Antarctic ice next month

Beneath an ice sheet 4 kilometers thick lies one of the most isolated bodies of water on Earth, the immense Lake Vostok of East Antarctica. It has been locked up, researchers think, for more than 10 million years. But it may not remain so much longer. A team of Russian researchers is poised to resume drilling through its ice cap next month, restarting a project that has been on hold since 1999 while experts debated how to proceed. Despite an extensive review, some still fear that the team's approach could alter the lake and make it impossible to obtain untainted water samples....

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