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Lake Vostok
lake, Antarctica
- Also called:
- Subglacial Lake Vostok or Lake East
Lake Vostok, largest lake in Antarctica. Located approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) beneath Russia’s Vostok Station on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), the water body is also the largest subglacial lake known. Running more than 150 miles (about 240 km) long with a maximum width of about 31 miles (50 km), the lake is roughly elliptical in shape, and it holds nearly 1,300 cubic miles (5,400 cubic km) of water. After decades of speculation and data gathering, the existence of the lake was confirmed in the mid-1990s by a combination of seismic and ice-penetrating radar surveys. Most scientists believe ...(100 of 499 words)