An assessment of deep hot-water drilling as a means to undertake direct measurement and sampling of Antarctic subglacial lakes: experience and lessons learned from the Lake Ellsworth field season 2012/13
An assessment of deep hot-water drilling as a means to undertake direct measurement and sampling of Antarctic subglacial lakes: experience and lessons learned from the Lake Ellsworth field season 2012/13
In the early hours of 25 December 2012, an attempt to explore Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica, using a specially designed hot-water drill, was halted. This UK project, involving several universities, the British Antarctic Survey and the National Oceanography Centre, had been in planning for 10 years. The project developed a full blueprint for subglacial lakes research, involving access to the subglacial environment through deep drilling, direct measurement and sampling of water and sediment by the construction of a probe and sediment corer, and environmental protocols to ensurecleanliness in line with international agreements on stewardship and protection of subglacial systems. Drilling was ceased after the main borehole failed to link with a subsurface cavity of water, built up over ~40 hours. Without this link, insufficient water was available to continue drilling downwards to the lake, ~3000m beneath the surface. On return to the UK, an external review of the programme was undertaken to formally assess the reasons for the fieldwork failure, and to make recommendations on the modifications necessary for success. From this review, the Lake Ellsworth programme formulated a pathway along which a second attempt to explore the lake can be developed. Here details of the Lake Ellsworth field experiment, the circumstances that led to its failure and the corrections required are presented. Hot-water drilling is still regarded as the only feasible scheme for assuring clean access to the subglacial environment. The lessons learned from the Lake Ellsworth experience are substantial, however, and demonstrate that considerable technological and methodological advances are necessary for successful future research on subglacial lakes beneath thick (>2 km) ice.
glaciological instruments and methods, radio-echo sounding, subglacial exploration, geophysics, subglacial lakes
59-73
Siegert, Martin J.
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Makinson, Keith
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Blake, David
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Mowlem, Matt
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Ross, Neil
035ecb5f-c3c1-4f13-87d9-3df8d26b4a56
June 2014
Siegert, Martin J.
24d4866c-43e7-4325-aa56-73bdcfcdb1e3
Makinson, Keith
b5c9e9d2-9b60-4cb4-9192-61dddd2edcca
Blake, David
5e04d75b-8132-44fd-9565-114e1d604484
Mowlem, Matt
6f633ca2-298f-48ee-a025-ce52dd62124f
Ross, Neil
035ecb5f-c3c1-4f13-87d9-3df8d26b4a56
Siegert, Martin J., Makinson, Keith, Blake, David, Mowlem, Matt and Ross, Neil
(2014)
An assessment of deep hot-water drilling as a means to undertake direct measurement and sampling of Antarctic subglacial lakes: experience and lessons learned from the Lake Ellsworth field season 2012/13.
Annals of Glaciology, 55 (65), .
Abstract
In the early hours of 25 December 2012, an attempt to explore Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica, using a specially designed hot-water drill, was halted. This UK project, involving several universities, the British Antarctic Survey and the National Oceanography Centre, had been in planning for 10 years. The project developed a full blueprint for subglacial lakes research, involving access to the subglacial environment through deep drilling, direct measurement and sampling of water and sediment by the construction of a probe and sediment corer, and environmental protocols to ensurecleanliness in line with international agreements on stewardship and protection of subglacial systems. Drilling was ceased after the main borehole failed to link with a subsurface cavity of water, built up over ~40 hours. Without this link, insufficient water was available to continue drilling downwards to the lake, ~3000m beneath the surface. On return to the UK, an external review of the programme was undertaken to formally assess the reasons for the fieldwork failure, and to make recommendations on the modifications necessary for success. From this review, the Lake Ellsworth programme formulated a pathway along which a second attempt to explore the lake can be developed. Here details of the Lake Ellsworth field experiment, the circumstances that led to its failure and the corrections required are presented. Hot-water drilling is still regarded as the only feasible scheme for assuring clean access to the subglacial environment. The lessons learned from the Lake Ellsworth experience are substantial, however, and demonstrate that considerable technological and methodological advances are necessary for successful future research on subglacial lakes beneath thick (>2 km) ice.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: June 2014
Published date: June 2014
Keywords:
glaciological instruments and methods, radio-echo sounding, subglacial exploration, geophysics, subglacial lakes
Organisations:
Ocean Technology and Engineering
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 365476
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/365476
ISSN: 0260-3055
PURE UUID: b01c4924-0aa2-47d2-8daf-b508782a862d
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Date deposited: 05 Jun 2014 10:58
Last modified: 08 Feb 2024 02:35
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Contributors
Author:
Martin J. Siegert
Author:
Keith Makinson
Author:
David Blake
Author:
Matt Mowlem
Author:
Neil Ross
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