Lake Untersee, South Basin #1 by Dale Andersen

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AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED...

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Lake Untersee, Dec 1 2011.

Lake Untersee is one of the largest (11.4 km2) and deepest (>160 m) freshwater lakes in East Antarctica. Located at 71° S, the lake has a perennial ice cover that varies in thickness along the main axis of the lake from 2.2 to 3.9 m. With the exception of a small anoxic basin in the southwest of the lake, the water column is generally well mixed, is supersaturated with dissolved oxygen, has a pH of 10.4 and exceedingly high clarity (vertical attenuation coefficient for PAR of 0.033 m-1). While the water column supports little primary production, the floor of the lake has an extensive cover of photosynthetic microbial mat to depths of at least 100 m. For more information, see: Andersen DT, Sumner DY, Hawes I, Webster-Brown J, McKay CP (2011) Discovery of large conical stromatolites in Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Geobiology, 9, 280-293. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00279.x/full 
We will be returning to Lake Untersee later this year (October 2012) to continue exploring the lake and surroundings. Our team members for the 2011 Tawani Antarctic Expedition were:

Dale T. Andersen - Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute
Christopher P. McKay - NASA Ames Research Center
Valery Galchenko - Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Moscow,
Ian Hawes, University of Canterbury, NZ
Valdimir Akimov - Skryabin Institute of Biochem. & Physiol. of Microorganisms, Pushchino, Russia
Dawn Sumner - University of California, Davis

Our logistics support is being handled by ALCI: www.antarctic-company.com/alci.htm 
And we are working with the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia: www.aari.aq/default_en.html 
Major funding for this project has been provided by the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies and the Trottier Family Foundation.

Additional support has been provided by the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St.Petersburg, Russia, the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL; NASA, and the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, Mt. View, CA.

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT THIS RESEARCH!
www.teamseti.org/supportdale 
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Dale T. Andersen, Ph.D.
Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe
189 Bernardo Ave., Suite 100
Mountain View, CA 94043

Web: daleandersen.seti.org 
Twitter: twitter.com/daleandersen 
Youtube: www.youtube.com/daletandersen 
Dale T. Andersen, Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use is Prohibited