Antarctica
Lake Vostok
Welcome to Lake Vostok — one of Antarctica's best-kept secrets! It's a huge lake of liquid water buried beneath about 2.5 miles of solid ice, hidden from sunlight for millions of years.
Why is it special?
It is the largest of Antarctica's hundreds of hidden lakes, buried deep beneath the ice sheet.
Even though it's surrounded by some of the coldest air on Earth, the water inside stays liquid instead of freezing solid.
How does it stay liquid?
Heat rising up from deep inside the Earth, plus the heavy weight of the ice pressing down, keeps the water from freezing even in the extreme cold.
The thick ice above also acts like a blanket, trapping that heat in and sealing the lake off from the freezing air above.
Amazing facts
Lake Vostok stretches about 155 miles long and 30 miles wide — one of the largest lakes on the entire planet.
It's buried under roughly 13,000 feet of ice, deeper than most airplanes fly.
Quick facts
- Lake Vostok stretches about 155 miles long and 30 miles wide — one of the largest lakes on the entire planet.
- It's buried under roughly 13,000 feet of ice, deeper than most airplanes fly.
- Scientists first discovered it in 1996 using radar that can 'see' straight through solid ice.
- It took scientists years of careful drilling to finally reach the lake's water in 2012 without contaminating it.