Life discovered 2.5 miles below ice.

[mojo]

Came across this article on reuters,


MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Hidden about four km (2.5 miles) beneath the ice near the South Pole lies a lake that scientists believe represents a lost world, harbouring organisms sealed off from the rest of the planet for millions of years.

Vostok has an added fascination for scientists because conditions there -- cold, with no light or air -- mirror those on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons where space probes have found evidence of an ocean below the frozen surface.
If living organisms are found in the lake, it could strengthen the argument for the presence of life beyond our planet.

www.alertnet.org (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28757649.htm)

My question is this, the scientists seem to be concerned about contaminating this pristine enviroment, should we also be concerned that the contamination may be reciprocal.
Im not sure how this works ,im no scientist.
Could there be microbes in this lake that could potentially cause unknown diseases etc.

Second question deals with the other part of the article re the similarities of the enviroment with that of europa.
Should life(bacterial/microbial) be discovered in this lake is it a given that life will be found in similar enviroments through out the solar system.

Any thoughts?

[Iori Komei]

Well being it's an aquatic environment, unless one were to drink the water straight up, I doubt there is any risk to us.

Well I don't think it will mean that their is a 100% chance we will find life in other places that have similar environments, it does significantly increase the chances of it.


Something else, I remember reading awhile back an article saying that Vostok may not actually be as pristine as it's thought because it may actually not be a closed lake but have tunnels leading not only to other lakes but to the ocean as well.

[mojo]

yes ive read that paper recently iori, i think it might have been www.nationalgeographic.com (http://www.nationalgeographic.com) , i'll see if i cant find the link.

heres a picture of the lake and river systems below the ice, the purple shaded area's are below sea level so could be accessed from the outside enviroment the rest are a closed envioroment.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/mojo4sale/071227-antarctica-wetland_big.jpg

[Iori Komei]

Just thought I'd add this to since it's really telling.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/960/antarcticaqr1.jpg

That's what Antarctica would look like if suddenly the ice was removed (like if it was sent to the moon or something).

Of course it would grow in size over the next 10,000 years as the immense wait of the ice allowed it to rise back up again, but yeah.