Lake Vanda

Hypersaline lake

The Vandasee is a lake in Wright Valley, Victoria Land, Ross Dependency, Antarctica. On its bank was located from 1968 to 1995, the New Zealand Vanda Station.

Geography

The lake is 8 km long and 2 km wide with a maximum depth of 75 m. The Vandasee is a hypersaline lake with a salt content of about 12 weight percent and is meromictic: The deeper layers of the lake does not mix with the upper layers. He's just one of the many saline lakes in the ice-free valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains. The largest river in Antarctica, the Onyx River, flows in a westerly direction ( inland ) in the Vandasee. There is a meteorological station at the mouth of the river. In the Onyx or Vandasee live not fish but only micro-organisms.

Vanda station

The Vanda station was known for the " Royal Lake Vanda Swim Club ". Visitors to the Vanda Station was in the salty waters bathe, when the ice had melted on the edge in the summer, and we were given a sleeve patch of the " Royal Lake Vanda Swim Club ". The staff of the station accelerating the melting process by aufhackte the ice in a pool. Many dignitaries and politicians were admitted to the club, had however to be naked in the bath ( Rule 1 ), had to completely submerge ( usually 4) and by a " vandals " ( Vanda station employees) without restrictions on a photo of evidence (Rule 6) testifies to qualify. Rule 10 allowed the wearing of a real fig leaf.

In the colder months the edge froze back to a usually crystal clear, meter deep ice.

When the water level of the lake rose, the Vanda station was removed in 1995 and replaced by another one ( Lake Vanda hat). It is periodically taken during the summer of two to eight researchers.

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