A specially adapted winch will be used to take samples of a subglacial lake deep under the Antarctic.
Underwater technology firm MacArtney has supplied a Cormac Q5 winch to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) so it can carry out subglacial lake sampling in West Antarctica.
A subglacial lake with an area of 18km2 has been identified by the Chilean research centre Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECs).
The lake, which is not frozen because of geothermal heating and the pressure of the 2,600m-thick ice sheet above it, could provide unique insight into climatic conditions hundreds of thousands of years ago, the scientists believe.
MacArtney’s winch, which has been adapted to conduct electromechanical ice drilling and subglacial lake sampling, will send down various probes to sample the sediment at the bottom, collect lake water and measure water properties.
The winch is fitted with a power & data cable with conductors for ice drilling but can also be spooled with 3,500m of coated zylon tether for an ultraclean sampling of the lake. A percussion corer probe designed to recover up to 3m of lake bed sediment will be attached to the tether to collect core samples.
“These samples will be analysed to identify any microbial life within the lake and uncover the past environment at the lake site,” say the scientists.
