Cold and Deep: Antarctica’s Lake Vostok has two big neighbors

Trapped beneath Antarctica’s kilometers-thick ice sheet are two bodies of water that rival North America’s Great Lakes, new analyses suggest. The geological setting of these huge, unfrozen lakes hints that they may harbor ecosystems that have been isolated for millions of years.

GREAT LAKES. Lake Vostok and the newly described 90°E and Sovetskaya Lakes lie beneath a kilometers-thick blanket of ice.