Biologists Continue Study Of Warm Antarctic Lakes

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29717, 10 January 1962, Page 10

Biologists Continue Study Of Warm Antarctic Lakes

Two University of Kansas biologists, Messrs J. C. Tash and L. A. Witt, left McMurdo Sound on Monday on their last field trip of the season to make further studies of the strangely warm waters of two Antarctic lakes. Messrs Tash and Witt have already made three visits to Lake Bonney, 60 miles from McMurdo, and two to Lake Vanda, another 17 miles away. By the time they have finished their investigations they will have drilled 48 holes through the ice covering those two lakes and the smaller Lake Fryxell. It w;.s discovered last season that water in Lake Bonney 50ft below the surface was 45 degrees Fahrenheit, while that at the bottom of Lake Vanda was as high as 71 degrees. The cause of such high temperatures in a geo-

graphical area with an average annual temperature well below freezing point is still not known. Suggested explanations are that there is a high heat flow from the earth below the lakes, or that the lakes store radiant heat from the sun. In the holes drilled this season the scientists have measured water temperatures at 10ft intervals, the concentration of ions at various depths, and the total depths to chart the lake bottoms. . Lake Bonney was found to be 118 ft deep and Lake Vanda 207 ft. Water samples for chemical analysis in the United States were taken from three deep holes in Lake Bonney, from one hole in Lake Vanda, and from one in the cooler Lake Fryxell. Thirty gallons of water was taken from a depth of 160 ft in Lake Vanda to be sent back to the United States for carbon-14 dating. Water will be taken from Lake Bonney for the same purpose.