Page "Lake Vostok" Paragraph 7

When British scientists in Antarctica performed airborne ice-penetrating radar surveys in the early 1970s, they detected unusual radar readings at the site which suggested the presence of a liquid, freshwater lake below the ice.

In 1991, Jeff Ridley, a remote sensing specialist with the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, directed the ERS-1 satellite to turn its high-frequency array toward the center of the Antarctic ice cap.

The data from ERS-1 confirmed the findings from the 1973 British surveys, but these new data were not published in the Journal of Glaciology until 1993.

Space-based radar revealed that this subglacial body of fresh water is one of the largest lakes in the world, and one of some 140 subglacial lakes in Antarctica.

Russian and British scientists delineated the lake in 1996 by integrating a variety of data, including airborne ice-penetrating radar imaging observations and space-based radar altimetry.

It has been confirmed that the lake contains large amounts of liquid water under the more than thick ice cap.

The lake has at least 22 cavities of liquid water, averaging each.