Deep Lake (Vestfold Hills, Antarctica)

For the lake in the McMurdo region of Antarctica, see Deep Lake (Ross Island).

Deep Lake is a small hypersaline lake in the Vestfold Hills region of Antarctica.^[1]

Deep Lake
Deep Lake
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	68°33′36.000″S 78°11′44.988″E
Type	lake
Max. depth	36 meters (118 ft)

Deep Lake's surface temperature on average ranges from -16 to 12 °C, with only a few meters at the lake's surface exceeding 0 °C for a few months of the year during the austral summer. Lake water temperatures can fall as low as -20 °C in winter, however the lake's water column is able to remain free of ice year-around due to the high salinity (~270 g/L) of the lake water.^[2] The archaeon Halorubrum lacusprofundi was first isolated from Deep Lake in the 1980s and is the first archaea domain member to be isolated from a cold environment.^[3][4] It has a max depth of 36 m (118 ft).^[2]