Mondo Knows Facts
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica
A massive freshwater body lies sealed beneath four kilometres of Antarctic ice
Buried under roughly 4,000 metres of Antarctic ice, Lake Vostok covers an area of about 12,500 square kilometres. Liquid water is maintained by geothermal heat and immense ice pressure above. Isolated from the surface for millions of years, the subglacial lake offers insights into potential extreme extraterrestrial ecosystems.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Lake Vostok is a massive freshwater lake buried beneath Antarctic iceHidden four kilometres under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Lake Vostok has been sealed for millions of years.The Antarctic Ice Sheet is the largest single mass of iceIt holds nearly 70 percent of all fresh water on the planetThe Lambert Glacier in Antarctica is the world's largest glacierThis massive ice stream measures over 400 kilometres longAntarctica is the largest and driest desert in the worldExtreme cold keeps annual precipitation below fifty millimetres in the interiorVostok Station recorded the lowest natural surface temperatureThermometers plunged to minus 89.2 degrees Celsius in AntarcticaCommonwealth Bay is recognised as the windiest place on EarthKatabatic winds regularly reach speeds exceeding 240 kilometres per hour
Tags: lake vostok, antarctica, subglacial
Lake Vostok is the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- A massive freshwater body lies sealed beneath four kilometres of Antarctic ice. The figure is taken from NASA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a records & extremes fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.