Team set to collect water and sediments from Antarctica

The research project, which is due to travel to Antarctica next week, is expected to yield discoveries about the evolution of life on Earth and other planets, and will provide clues about the Earth’s past climate.

Transporting nearly 70 tonnes of equipment, the advance party of four engineers from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) will make a journey to sub-glacial Lake Ellsworth on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS).

‘Our task is to prepare the way for the “deep-field” research mission that will take place next year,’ said Chris Hill, Sub-glacial Lake Ellsworth programme manager. ‘In October 2012 we will return to the site with a team of 10 scientists and engineers to make a 3km bore hole through the ice using… hot-water drilling technology. We will then lower a titanium probe to measure and sample the water followed by a corer to extract sediment from the lake.’

Scientists at BAS and Durham University, working in partnership with Austrian business UWITEC, designed and built the sediment corer. The percussion-driven piston corer is reportedly strong enough to penetrate the most compacted glacial sediments to extract a core sample.