Case file · Anomaly hotspot
The drilling into Lake Ellsworth that failed
In December 2012 a British team led by Martin Siegert began hot-water drilling towards Lake Ellsworth, 3 km under the West Antarctic ice, but on 25 December called the project off when they could not link two boreholes 300 m down.
2012 CE · -78.97, -90.52 · status: official
The account
The aim was to sample the lake's water and sediments for life and for a record of the ice sheet's past. The failure, reported widely, became part of online lists of 'abandoned Antarctic missions'. The lake has not yet been sampled.
The sceptical view
The equipment failure is documented in detail by the team.