Drilling technology for deep ice and the subglacial lake at Vostok Station， Antarctica

Abstract:

Since 1970， the former Soviet Union and Russia have been drilling for nearly 50 years at Vostok Station in Antarctica. It has overcome the drilling problems with complex ice layers including snow layer， ice layer， debris ice， refrozen lake ice； formed a set of deep ice core drilling technology integrating thermal core drilling， electro-mechanical core drilling and offset hole drilling； and created the dry hole drilling depth record （952.4m）， the thermal drilling depth record （2755m） and the ice core drilling depth record （3769.3m）. The cumulative drilling footage was over 13000m， and the refrozen lake ice core with a total length of more than 46m were obtained. The drilling activities at Vostok Station have played a great role in promoting and leading the development of polar ice drilling technology， and accumulated valuable deep ice core drilling experience. This paper conducts a systematic review of deep ice drilling technology at Vostok Station to provide important reference for China’s ongoing deep ice core drilling and the upcoming subglacial lake exploration.