Research conducted by a University of Edinburgh professor on a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica may hold clues to the origins of life.

Dr Ross and three fellow researchers are investigating Lake Ellsworth, located 3.2km below Antarctica’s western ice sheet. It is one of around 150 sub-glacial lakes spread throughout Antarctica, among which exists the better-known Lake Vostok, the largest of its kind in the continent and the location of a Cold War-era Russian research base.

Lake Ellsworth was selected as the focus for biological and geophysical investigation due to its location, size, and low altitude compared with the eastern lakes such as Vostok.

Professor Siegert, head of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, said: “We are particularly interested in Lake Ellsworth because it is likely to have been isolated from the surface for hundreds of thousands of years.”

As a result, scientists believe Lake Ellsworth has the potential to contain forms of life that have developed and evolved in complete seclusion from all other living matter on the planet. Such a discovery could prove invaluable to scientists attempting to unravel the mysteries of the origins of life on earth.

The possibility of success is strengthened by a number of discoveries over the past decade of microbes living in a variety of extreme and inhospitable environments – so called ‘extremeophiles’. It is findings such as these that bolster hopes of discovering life in the sub zero, high pressure, and low nutrient conditions of Lake Ellsworth.

The implications of any such discovery in Ellsworth extend beyond that of life on our planet alone. The extreme environment of the lake bears similarities to conditions on Europa – one of Jupiter’s moons.

For climate science researchers, the lake floor could also hold precious information about the history of the earth’s climate and lead to a greater understanding of climatic change in the present and future. Satellite imagery and geophysical surveying of the lake also suggests connections with other sub-glacial lakes in the area.

Professor Siegert said of Lake Ellsworth: “[It] could drain from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the ocean and contribute to sea level rise.”

The analysis and exploration of Lake Ellsworth is a two-step project, the initial aim being limited to determining the depth of lake. Researchers subsequently plan to probe directly into the lake and to collect and analyse the water – however, funding for this latter stage is yet to be secured. The study is expected to take a number of years to reach completion.