Cold Comfort: 7 Amazing Antarctic Lakes
July 19, 2011 by admin · View Comments
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series & Nature & Ecosystems & Science & Research. ]
Lakes? In my frozen Antarctica? It’s more likely than you think, and their existence has nothing to do with global warming. This in-depth (brrr!) look at 7 amazing Antarctic lakes shows us the 7th continent still has a few tricks up its frosty sleeve.
Don Juan Pond
(image via: 77 Degrees South)
Don Juan Pond may sound romantic but visitors will find intimacy is the last thing on their minds – unless getting up close & personal with Mother Nature is your thing, you salty dog! Speaking of which, Don Juan Pond‘s hypersalinity is what keeps it from freezing over no matter how cold it gets, and (cue Larry David voice) Antarctica can get pretty, pretty cold. Scale is difficult to determine without trees, but note the red-coated researcher on the right in the above image.
(images via: Polar Night Images, Hassan Basagic and Los Alamos Mountaineers)
You think the Dead Sea is salty at 8 times the ocean’s salinity? Don Juan Pond laughs at your assumptions, being 18 times saltier than the sea. Forget about floating IN it, anyone brave enough to strip down and dip their tootsies might find they float ABOVE it!
(images via: The Resource Center and Walt Hamler)
Sadly, doing the Don Juan Pond flotation exercise is not an option. Scientists aren’t sure why, but over the past few decades Don Juan Pond has been steadily drying up to the point where it’s only a few inches deep. One might assume that its location in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys region doesn’t help the situation.
Organic Lake
(images via: Punnett’s Square, AAD and Liquida)
Located in eastern Antarctica’s Vestfold Hills, Organic Lake formed about 6,000 years ago and gets its name from the profusion of algae it hosts. These algae produce malodorous Dimethyl Sulfide as a gaseous waste product and they do so in abundance, as the 24.5 ft (7.5m) deep lake boasts the highest level of dissolved DMS of any lake on Earth. Blazing Saddles in a drop of water, that’s what they’ve got there.
(images via: AAD and Smaller Questions)
Organic Lake made the news recently when scientists testing its waters discovered the Organic Lake Virophage (above, lower left), a so-called “virus-eater” that preys on larger viruses that in turn infect the lake’s algae. Further research is being conducted to find out not only how OLV functions, but if the knowledge gained can assist medical professionals in devising new antiviral drugs and treatments for viral illnesses in humans.
Radok Lake
(images via: Swisseduc, ANARE Club and Schepps Media)
Alien-sounding Radok Lake can be found near (the unfortunately beaver-less) Beaver Lake at the foot of the Prince Charles Mountains. Although not especially large as lakes go – it’s about 4 miles (6.43 km) long – Radok Lake is 1,188 ft (362 meters) deep making it the continent’s deepest surface-exposed lake. One wonders what waits in the extreme depths of Radok Lake, dreaming with his hordes hidden in green slimy vaults… the awful answer being, of course, “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”
(image via: Swisseduc)
Radok Lake’s most exception feature – visually, at least – is the spectacular “ice tongue” of the Battye Glacier which stabs into the lake and floats upon its frigid, cerulean blue waters. If Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones ever loaded up the Prius with PBR and headed out for a weekend at the beach, this is where they’d likely end up chilling out.
Lake Vida
(images via: DRI and National Geographic)
Livin’ la Lake Vida loca? Try nada. Lake Vida is capped with ice over 60 ft (21 m) thick, precluding its use for recreational watersports even at the height of the Antarctic summer. It’s been so for thousands of years. Beneath that protective ice cap, however, lies a mysterious lacustrine ecosystem that’s basically humming along in sweet isolation… at a frigid (but still liquid) -13°C, no less.
(images via: BBC and Space Daily)
Lake Vida’s no Don Juan Pond but its kosher dill-level brine is still 7 times as saline as seawater. If it was stocked with herring, all you’d need were jars! In 2002, a research team from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Peter Doran discovered halophile (salt-loving) cyanobacteria in ice cores drilled into Lake Vida 6 years earlier.
(images via: NASA/APOD, We Heart New York and Bloody Good Horror)
Upon being thawed, the microbes awoke from their 2,800-year-long slumber and carried on much as before. NASA has since set up a Meteorological Station on the shores of Lake Vida to, well, keep tabs on things. The station is unmanned… I guess they saw that movie too.
Lake Bonney
Lake Bonney, a freshwater lake located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (which seem to have a lot of lakes), is 4.35 miles (7 km) long by about 1/2 mile (900 meters) wide. It was named for Thomas George Bonney, professor of geology at University College in London from 1877 to 1901, but naming it for William H Bonney (alias “Billy the Kid”) makes much more sense. Why? Because it’s fed by Blood Falls, a red-tinted plume of rusty water that pours out of the Taylor Glacier onto the lake’s surface!
(images via: Taylor Valley, Space.com and Astrobioblog)
Lake Bonney may soon be visited by autonomous submersible robot NASA calls “Endurance” (though I would’ve called it the “Pat Garrett”) that will explore the depths of Lake Bonney as practice for a future mission to Jupiter’s watery moon Europa. Hopefully the exploratory mission to Europa’s subsurface ocean will go ahead without any, er, holdup.
Lake Thomas
(images via: QSL)
Lake Thomas, found in the Dry (yes, I know) Valleys of Victoria Land, is a freshwater lake fed by glacial melt on Antarctica’s warmer summer days. Though Lake Thomas itself isn’t especially remarkable, it’s surrounded with some of the planet’s most eerie, inhospitable, otherworldly (yet beautiful) scenery. It’s going to be a popular place once global warming really kicks in.
(image via: Portland State University)
As is the case with many of the glacial meltwater lakes in the Dry Valleys region, the purity of the water in the frozen surface cap allows for a remarkable clarity shown off to full advantage by scientists and photographers alike.
Lake Untersee
(images via: Stampboards and WordlessTech, Dale Anderson)
Lake Untersee was discovered by the German Antarctic Expedition of 1938–39, which did little other than name upwards of 50 topographical features with German names and drop a dozen Nazi flag markers by air… or so they would like us to think! The lake itself is about 4 miles (6.5 km) long, 1.6 miles (2.5 km) wide, and up to 554 ft (69 m) in depth. Though permanently capped with ice up to 9.8 ft (3 m) even in the summer, it’s what lies beneath Lake Untersee’s surface that has aroused both shock and surprise.
(images via: TMP, Bibliotecapleyades and Fufor)
You thought there was going to be mention of a Nazi u-boat base and UFO hangar (or both), didn’t you? Sorry, fellow conspiracy theorists, no such luck. Instead, divers who braved the exceptionally alkaline water (the pH ranges from 9.8 and 12.1, like strong Chorox) discovered… life!
(images via: WordlessTech)
Yes, life, albeit in a very primitive form. Those odd, purplish humped objects seen in the image above are not the spawn of Shoggoths, but stromatolites: layered structures built up layer by layer over centuries by mats of cyanobacteria. Stromatolites are among the Earth’s oldest fossils, dating back 3.5 billion years… and here they are at the bottom of an Antarctic lake. Maybe ol’ HP was on to something after all.
(image via: Cthulhu’s Holiday Photos)
Anglers anxious to reel in the first fish hooked in an Antarctic lake should cool their heels, as there are no viable fish populations in any of Antarctica’s many saline or freshwater lakes. Then again, many of these lakes have been isolated from the outer environment for thousands to millions of years and new discoveries concerning their ecologies continue to be made. So go ahead and bait a hook… but if something tugs on your line, let it go, man. Just let it go.
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GLOBAL 3000 | Social Entrepreneur Turkey: Rescuing Fish
April 8, 2010 by · View Comments
Mustafa Sari is well known along the shores of Lake Van in eastern Turkey. He’s responsible for saving the fish - and thereby the livelihood of thousands of local residents. In the past, Lake Van was fished to the limit, and by the early 1990s there were hardly any fish left. Until Mustafa Sari came. He explained to fishermen that giving fish time to breed was in their own best interest. It took years of persuasion to overturn tradition - but his work has saved the lake’s fish population. Stocks have recovered and nets are full again. Now Mustafa Sari is turning his attention to improving efficiency, like introducing refrigerated warehouses so that fewer fish go to waste. The Schwab Foundation has chosen to honor Mustafa Sari as a Social Entrepreneur.
Egg-Shaped Architecture & Art From Amazing To Bizarre
April 1, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments
[ By Angie in Art & Design, Geography & Travel, Home & Garden. ]
Easter eggs were reportedly first decorated in the 13th century, while egg shaped architecture “caught on” significantly later than that. From amazing decorated eggs to strange structures, here is a bizarre collection of oval-like designs in architecture and art.
Decorated With A Drill
Franc Grom created hundreds of amazing eggs. He uses his electric boring tool to pierce about 2,500 to 3,500 holes in each fragile eggshell.
(image credits:damnfunnypictures,ragandbone,a-pic.co.tv)
Grom was inspired by Slovenian designs. He patiently creates and then sells his masterful eggshell designs. There are times he drills as many as 17,000 holes per breakable egg.
Egg Art
(image credits:applicant)
Decorating Easter eggs is not only for children. Some painted eggs are displayed in museums such as in the Eggs Museum located in Moldoviţa, Bucovina. The hand-made designs are passed down from families, differing in colors and patterns depending on which Bucovina village they were made. These Easter ornaments eggs were created by Lucia Condrea.
Egg City
(image credits:pitodoble,neatorama)
In terms of patience, it would seem to take huge amounts to stack these eggs for a massive sculpture. This “egg city” was built for an avant-garde exhibit in Groninger Museum in Groningen, Netherlands. Avant-garde is experimental or innovative, pushing the boundaries of what one might expect. The Groninger Museum was transformed into a ‘Small Chinese Empire.’
World’s Largest Easter Egg
(image credits:crazywebsite)
The world’s largest Easter egg or Ukrainian ‘Pysanka,’ was constructed in 1975 in Vegreville, Canada. The outer aluminum skin weighs 2,000 pounds. The Pysanka is an immense jigsaw puzzle containing 524 star patterns, 2,206 equilateral triangles, 3,512 visible facets, 6,978 nuts and bolts, and 177 internal struts. It measures 25.7 feet long, 18.3 feet wide, and stands 31.6 feet high.
Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló Has Egg-Shaped Windows
(image credits:parisparfait)
Designed by famous architect Antoni Gaudí, Casa Batllo is in Barcelona, Spain. It has egg-shaped windows and Juliet balconies. This curved building is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Gaudí is known for his work as “God’s Architect” and spent ten years working on studies for the design of La Sagrada Família. He died in 1926 after being run over by a tram.
Blob VB3
(image credits:The Design Inspiration)
The mobile living space, blob VB3, has a bathroom, kitchen, storage niches, and even a nook for sleeping. The nose opens and can function as a porch. It took 18 months to build, is made primarily of polyester, and is easily transportable. The Blob can function as a office, garden house, or guest room.
Egg Shaped Structures
(image credits:frank-heger,artmargins)
Frank Heger addressed the designing challenges of how to keep digesters from falling over. With his help, the Crom Corporation constructed two 3-million gallon egg-shaped sludge digesters for Baltimore’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The red egg-shaped house by architect Sergey Tkacheneko is located in Moscow. It is one part of a larger residential structure. His egg design was deliberated for years before construction.
More Design Egg Shapes
(image credits:cowboyofbottrop,unci_narynin,decodir)
The Egg-shaped digesters in Bottrop, Germany, are used for sewage treatment processing. Another large egg-shape building is located in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Egg-o house with the garden in the center was designed by architecture company A69 from the Czech Republic.
London City Hall
(image credits:waymarking,futurearchitects,danclafrance)
London City Hall is located on the south bank of the River Thames. Its unusual egg-like shape reduces surface area and improves energy efficiency. Inside the ten-story building, a 1,640 foot spiral staircase goes up to an exhibition and meeting space called “London’s Living Room.”
Gherkin Behind The Tower Of London
(image credits:worldtravelgallery)
The Gherkin skyscraper is also in London. Designed by Norman Foster and constructed by Skanska, Gherkin has 40 floors and stands 591 feet tall. For energy savings, this unusual shaped building incorporates the double glazing effect. It has gaps in each floor to create six shafts, or chimneys, trapping air between two layers of glazing to insulate the office spaces.
City Of Arts And Sciences
(image credits:architec)
The City of the Arts and the Sciences in Valencia, Spain, is an egg-shaped entertainment-complex that is both culturally and architecturally amazing. It has glass windows and floors. The large “eye” is an Imax Cinema. There are three floors and 13,9930 square feet of the building which also houses a Planetarium and a Laserium.
Egg Building in China
(image credits:twistedsifter)
The National Centre for the Performing Arts, also known as The Egg, is a 129,000 square foot titanium and glass opera house in Beijing, China. The exterior has over 18,000 titanium plates, more than 1,000 sheets of ultra-white glass, and a low-iron glass with a high rate of light transmission. It cost $468.7 million and seats 5,452 people in three halls, The Opera House, The Hall, and The Theatre. It is said to look like an egg floating on the water; an artificial lake surrounds it. The hallway goes underneath the lake, but with a massive glass ceiling, light shines through the water to give visitors an otherworldly experience. The Egg was designed by French architect Paul Andreu. It held its first concert in 2007.
Cybertecture Egg
(image credits:sharearchitecture)
The Cybertecture Egg, in Mumbai, India, is scheduled for completion this year. By using this “egg” shape, the building has approximately 10-20% less surface area than conventional buildings. This 13 story “egg” will use solar photovoltaic panels and rooftop wind turbines to generate on-site electricity. In focusing on health and wellness, it will interact with occupant’s vital health statistics such as blood pressure and weight. The 32,000 square meter egg-shaped building will combine “iconic architecture, environmental design, intelligent systems, and new engineering to create an awe-inspiring landmark in the city.”
Glow In The Dark Alien Eggs
(image credits:glowstickfactory)
Dear children and/or trolls: Happy Easter to you too. Since none of the “eggs” here probably interested you, perhaps you would better like a dozen glow-in-the-dark alien eggs from Area 51?
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