An Antarctic lake once thought to be completely frozen is instead teeming with life, leaving researchers thrilled about its educational possibilities.
As reported by Live Science, the researchers made their discovery during a visit to Antarctica in 2019 and 2020. They used radar to determine that the aptly named Lake Enigma, which was thought to be dried up and frozen over, actually had at least 40 feet of liquid water underneath the top layer of ice.
After drilling into the ice and using a camera to explore the lake, the researchers found an ecosystem full of microbial life. These cyanobacteria are part of many ice-covered Antarctic lakes, but unique to Lake Enigma is the fact that they are found only in microbial mats, or blobs that cover the lake's floor.
The research was first published in late 2024 in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
"Analysis of these [microbial] communities demonstrate that Lake Enigma supports a phylogenetically diverse and high-biomass microbial ecosystem that stands unique among Antarctic perennially ice-covered lakes," the researchers wrote.
Simply finding water in the lake was a welcome surprise to researchers. Lake Enigma is in an area with high winds, high evaporation rates, and low precipitation, so it was thought to have dried up. After studying the water in the lake, the researchers believe it came from a nearby glacier, although the exact path it took to the lake remains unknown.
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This is the latest of many astounding findings in Antarctica. Researchers have also found that Antarctic ice shelves have a variety of shapes within them, changing our understanding of how melting ice impacts the structure of glaciers. Another team unearthed evidence of a 1,000-mile-long river system that flowed underneath Antarctica millions of years ago.
Like these other studies, the findings at Lake Enigma are more than just cool (or, because we're discussing Antarctica, freezing cold). They also shed light on how ecosystems survive and thrive over time in harsh weather conditions.
"Knowledge of the similarities and differences in the microbial communities of these lakes is foundational to understanding biology in Antarctica, a primarily microbial continent," the Lake Enigma researchers wrote.
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