Lake Whillans
Lake Whillans is a subglacial lake in Antarctica. The lake is located under the Whillans Ice Stream at the southeastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf in the west of the continent. The lake surface is beneath the surface of the ice and the lake covers an estimated area of . Lake depths measured thus far have been around . Its temperature is −0.49 °C, below 0 °C because of the high pressure. Lake Whillans, like the Whillans Ice Stream, is named for Ohio State University glaciologist Dr. Ian Whillans. Discovery The lake was first described in 2007 by Helen Fricker, a glaciologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Satellite laser altimeter data from NASA's ICESat had revealed the ice at that location rising and falling, leading her team to conclude the presence of the lake. Research On 28 January 2013, the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) team announced that they had reached the lake surface having drilled through the ice above. Drilling was accomplished using a hot-water drill to create a borehole in diameter. Over the following days the team collected water samples and also sediment cores from the lake bottom. Initial analysis of water and