Astrobiologists with the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling project (WISSARD ) have captured their first view of a microbial ecosystem surviving beneath the ice of Antarctica. The team drilled through half a mile of ice that covers Lake Whillians and recovered samples of sediments from the bottom of the lake. They identified living cells in the samples, confirming that life can survive in deep, dark subglacial lakes. The team will now work to identify the microorganisms and determine the processes they use to survive in the cold without sunlight.

Studying how organisms survive in Antarctic lakes can help astrobiologists understand the potential for life below the ice of other worlds, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa. The WISSARD project is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, NOAA and NASA. Development of the Micro-Subglacial Lake Exploration Device (MSLED) was supported by the NSF and NASA’s Astrobiology Science & Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program.