Lake Vanda
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| Lake Vanda | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
| Lake type | hypersaline |
| Primary inflows | Onyx River Bartley Stream Clark Stream Meserve Stream |
| Primary outflows | none |
| Basin countries | (Antarctica) |
| Max. length | 8 km |
| Max. width | 2 km |
| Surface area | 5.2 km |
| Average depth | 30.8 |
| Max. depth | 75 m |
| Water volume | 160,000,000 m³ |
| Settlements | Vanda Station Lake Vanda Hut |
Lake Vanda is a lake in Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Ross Dependency, Antarctica. The lake is 5 km long and has a maximum depth of 69 m.[1] On its shore, New Zealand maintained Vanda Station from 1968 to 1995. Lake Vanda is a hypersaline lake with a salinity more than ten times that of seawater,[2] more than the salinity of the Dead Sea, and perhaps even more than of Lake Assal (Djibouti), which is the world's most saline lake outside of Antarctica. Lake Vanda is also meromictic, which means that the deeper waters of the lake don't mix with the shallower waters.[3] It is only one of the many saline lakes in the ice-free valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains. The largest river of Antarctica, Onyx River, flows West, inland, into Lake Vanda. There is a meteorological station at the mouth of the river. There are no fish in Onyx River or Lake Vanda. The only life is microorganisms.
Lake Vanda Station was well known for The Royal Lake Vanda Swim Club.[citation needed] Visitors to Lake Vanda Station could dip into the high salinity waters when the icecap edge melted out during summer to form a 'moat', and receive a Royal Lake Vanda Swim Club shoulder patch. Many dignitaries and politicians were inducted into the club, The dip had to be naked, complete immersion, and witnessed by a 'Vandal' (Vanda Station staffer) to qualify.
During the colder months the moat refreezes, generally to a totally transparent clear ice metres deep.
Vanda Station was removed in 1995 as lake levels rose due to global warming, and is replaced by a shelter, Lake Vanda Hut, that is periodically staffed by 2-8 stream researchers. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ Mathez, Edmond A. "Cold Fire". July-August 2005. Natural History. 15 Dec 2006
- ^ Priscu, J. C., Priscu, L. R., Vincent, Warwick F., and Howard-Williams, Clive (1981). "Photosynthate distribution by microplankton in permanently ice-covered Antarctic desert lakes," Limnol. Oceanogr., 32(l), 1981, 260-270.
- ^ Gibson, John E. (1999). "The meromictic lakes and stratified marine basins of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica," Antarctic Science Vol. 11, pp. 175-192.
- ^ http://huey.colorado.edu/LTER/datasets/streams/fieldman2.html
[edit] External links
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