Detected 124 lakes under the ice of the Western Antarctic

American scientists after a detailed study of the measurement results from the ICESat satellite found that the Western Antarctic ice, there are 124 lakes that are constantly moving, published in the journal Džornal of geolodži.

The lakes form a whole system of canals and huge reservoir of fresh water below the ice, the scientists pointed out. Satellite tests are performed with a laser that measures the height. Above the lake is ice, namely, the deflection and sag can amount to up to nine meters. Can be calculated by measuring the amount of water in these lakes can reach cubic kilometer. It zamašna amount considering that a large freshwater lake Balaton Hungary has 1.9 cubic kilometers of water. The discovery that the lakes under the ice turned the move is all about the present structure of the space under the Antarctic ice, scientists point out that dealing with this phenomenon. Earlier in the area of the eastern Antarctic lakes discovered primarily using seismic sounding. So found the famous lake Vastok, just under the same name of the Russian research station, writes the Moscow daily Izvstia in addition to his "science".
The lake can be Vastok, According to Russian scientists, contain micro-organisms in the original form that existed on earth before millions of years. Because the sounding in the direction of the lake has been interrupted due to fears of "infection" of the ecosystem modern microbe, but has recently found a method to avoid such unpleasant consequences. Research in Antarctica is, otherwise, not only going to meet the curiosity of scientists and the public, but also because it is the last continental ore resource on earth, while such reserves in the Arctic are under water.
The importance of the international "Agreement on Antarctica, according to which the continent is the only scientific laboratory, says 2011th Is uncertain, however, how the act states, signatory of the document after 2011, exactly two centuries after the Russian expedition Belinshauzena and Lazarus discovered this continent.