Lake Vanda (Antarctica) revisited

Abstract

Abstract The warm water, with temperatures up to 25°c, found near the bottom of the ice‐covered Lake Vanda in Victoria Land, Antarctica, has prompted a number of papers suggesting possible heating mechanisms. The Dry Valley Drilling Project site on Lake Vanda during the 1973–74 summer enabled temperatures in the lake sediment and underlying granite bedrock to be measured, offering a possibility of determining the source of heat. Data of previous workers and the present measurements extending over nine months of 1974 shows that the heating mechanism is solar radiation. The temperature gradient beneath the lake confirms that there is a net loss of heat from the lake bottom, while a slab model of the lower lake temperature profile based on solar heating is consistent with the measured temperature profile. These results appear to eliminate the possibility of geothermal heating.