18 December 2012

British Antarctic search for life in Lake Ellsworth halted with Boiler trouble

The British Antarctic attempt to search for life in an ancient lake 2 miles under the ice has ground to a halt after their boiler broke down.

The British attempt to find life in an ancient lake lying beneath 3km of Antarctic ice has hit problems. The team have been using a high pressure hot water drill to bore a hole through solid ice into Lake Ellsworth. Unfortunately the boiler designed to heat 230 litres of water per minute to 90C has broken down.

Problems started last Thursday when a key circuit failed. A back-up burner was fitted and ran until Saturday when it too failed. Replacement parts have been ordered but with the manufacturer based 10,000 miles away in the UK, drilling is unlikely to resume before December 21st.

The team are currently running the boiler on a less powerful back-up element which, though not powerful enough to resume drilling, is keeping the pipes from freezing. Project Manager Chris Hill told BBC News by email:

"We are also vulnerable if this element fails, we will have to fully drain down the system … and start over from scratch – this would be a big deal.”

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