NewsTracker Answers for week of Feb. 13, 2012

Q: Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling down through 12,355 feet of solid Antarctic ice. Where is Antarctica on this map?

Circle the area on this map

Q: A. The water in Lake Vostok has been sealed off from light and air for somewhere between 15 million and 34 million years. How much of the Earth's fresh water is in Antarctica?

A. One tenth

B. 30 percent

C. Nearly half

D. 70 percent

D. Antarctica has about 90 percent of the world's ice containing about 70 percent of the world's fresh water. The ice would raise sea levels 200 feet if it all melted

Q: Antarctica is the world's largest . . .

A. Iceberg

B. Desert

C. Continent

D. Dead zone

B. While most of the world's fresh water is trapped in the its ice, the continent is considered a desert. The South Pole receives less than 4 inches average precipitation a year.

Q: Scientists hope that water from Lake Vostok - the largest of 280 lakes beneath the ice - will help them research . . .

A. Evolution of life on earth

B. New life forms

C. Life on other planets

D. All of the above

D. There have been hints that the water may contain microbes which evolved to derive energy from minerals by "eating rocks." If these new life forms are uncovered, it could help astrobiologists who believe conditions in the lakes may be similar to those in the liquid water thought to exist under the surfaces of icy moons in the outer Solar System

Q: The drilling was conducted at the Vostok Station which is . . .

A. A Russian Army base

B. The Southernmost place on Earth

C. The Coldest place on Earth

D. All of the above

C. The lowest reliably measured temperature - 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit below zero - was recorded at the research station in July 1983. Treaties have set aside Antarctica as scientific preserve and banned military activity on the continent. The American Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is located at the southernmost spot on the globe.