Buried Lake Vostok Reached by Russian Research Team? Some Still Skeptical

A team of Russian scientists have successfully reached a buried lake in Antarctica. The team drilled through more than two miles of ice to reach Lake Vostok, which hasn’t seen daylight in more than 14 million years.

Last week it was reported that the team had disappeared but several Russian sources reported today that the team has successfully drilled through the ice to reach the buried lake.

The newspaper Ria Novosti quoted an unnamed source saying:

“Yesterday, our scientists stopped drilling at the depth of 3,768 meters (12,362 feet) and reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake.”

Live Science reports that the news about the Russian team’s success may come from an unreliable source. Rio Novosti also claims that the Nazis built the lake in secret in the 1930s. Hitler and Eva Braun were reportedly brought their via submarine following Germany’s surrender at the end of World War II so that they could be cloned.

John Priscu, a University of Montana microbiologist and veteran Antarctic researcher, said:

“There are a lot of rumors going around about penetrating the lake, and we need the Russian program to make the official announcement. If they were successful, their efforts will transform the way we do science in Antarctica and provide us with an entirely new view of what exists under the vast Antarctic ice sheet.”

So far there has not been an official announcement about the discovery.

A British team and an American team of researchers are getting ready to embark on their own mission to uncover some of the buried lakes in Antarctica. If the Russian’s have not succeeded, it could be a close race to the buried lakes. The British will start drilling at Lake Ellsworth this Fall and the Americans will be drilling at Whillans Ice Stream at the start of next year.

Do you think the Russians have drilled through to Lake Vostok?