--- title: Scientists Discover Microbes in Subglacial Antarctic Lake description: The discovery of a microbial ecosystem in a subglacial lake in Antarctica could help point to the possibilities of life on other planets. canonical: https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/ author: Melissa Hellmann article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-21T10:05:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:46:46.810Z article:section: Science og:title: There's Life Beneath the Antarctic og:description: A subglacial lake 800 m beneath the Antarctic surface is swarming with microbes. Could life on other planets exist in a similar way? og:url: https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20c6684cf316dd8e/6986a05e3617608dd790d8d5/504673149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3440 og:image:height: 1935 og:image:alt: Ice floes floating on water og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: There's Life Beneath the Antarctic twitter:description: A subglacial lake 800 m beneath the Antarctic surface is swarming with microbes. Could life on other planets exist in a similar way? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20c6684cf316dd8e/6986a05e3617608dd790d8d5/504673149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Discover Microbes in a Subglacial Antarctic Lake > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Aug 21, 2014 10:05 AM UTC  Ice floating in Ross Sea, Antarctica on June 15, 2014. Ice floating in Ross Sea, Antarctica on June 15, 2014. De Agostini—Getty Images by [Melissa Hellmann](https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Aug 21, 2014 10:05 AM UTC The frozen desert of Antarctica is challenging enough for life — never mind conditions beneath that ice-bound mass. But [NBC News reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/its-alive-microbes-discovered-deep-beneath-antarctic-ice-n185386) that a recent discovery by scientists reveals the water beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to be swarming with microbes. The findings, published in _Nature_, reveal that a diverse microbe ecosystem of 4,000 distinct species [exists](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13667.html) in subglacial Lake Whillans, which lies beneath 800 m of ice. The chemoautotrophs — organisms that gain sustenance from minerals found in the water instead of from sunlight — could also hint to the possibility of life on other planets, _National Geographic_ [reports](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140820-antarctic-microbe-lake-astrobiology-science/). Scientists say that the conditions that the microbes live in could be similar to those in frozen lakes found on Europa or Enceladus, Jupiter’s and Saturn’s moons respectively. “The report is a landmark for the polar sciences,” Martyn Tranter, a professor at the University of Bristol (who was not involved in the study), wrote in a commentary in _Nature_. Tranter added that the discovery also raised “the question of whether microbes could eat rock beneath ice sheets on extraterrestrial bodies such as Mars.” The researchers will continue to survey Lake Whillan next winter in search of other organisms that could further point to the varying possibilities of life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/"},"headline":"Scientists Discover Microbes in a Subglacial Antarctic Lake","datePublished":"2014-08-21T10:05:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:46:46.810Z","description":"It could help point to the possibilities of life on other planets","url":"https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/","keywords":["Environment","Science topic","antarctica","microbes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20c6684cf316dd8e/6986a05e3617608dd790d8d5/504673149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Hellmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20c6684cf316dd8e/6986a05e3617608dd790d8d5/504673149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ice floes floating on water","caption":"Ice floes floating on water","creditText":"De Agostini—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3152633/scientists-microbes-subglacial-antarctic-lake-west-antarctic-ice-sheet/","name":"Scientists Discover Microbes in a Subglacial Antarctic Lake"}}]}] ```