- UPDATE
-
- From Harry Mason
- orbitx@iinet.net.au
- 4-18-1
-
- Dear Jeff,
-
- I have received several e-mails from irate Antarctic
personnel and others upset at "MY" article re Lake Vostock and
"NSA Overide-Coverup" as shown on your web site. Basically they
seem to think that I verified and am the source of the Anon NSA Overide-Coverup"
story that started this entire discussion - which I was NOT !!!
-
- Whilst reviewing the recent post on your web site it
has become obvious that the ex-Nexus ex-Scientific American ex-Anon (believed
to be an NASA-JPL insider) "NSA Overide-Coverup" story line as
reproduced there DOES give the impression that I have written it and verified
it.
-
- I am sure that this is purely an editing error whilst
attempting to cull the various dispatches forwarded to you by me a few
months ago. In fact, I DID NOT write it, NOR have I verified its veracity.
AND, in later emails on the subject matter over the last few months I
have raised several redflag outpoints concerning different aspects of
this allegedly true "NSA Overide-Coverup" Anon story.
-
- In short, I am reasonably certain that 90% of the original
Anon story is a concocted piece of bullshit that was foistered upon Nexus
Magazine via Scientific American magazine from person(s) unknown for reasons
unknown.
-
- The story of the reforced repatriation of the two female
Antarctic skiers, the alledged "pulled" satellite image, the
location of the Lake Vostock camp and magnetic anomaly, and the original
dispatch's apparent legal NASA advisory report number are all seriously
flawed and quite untrue aspects of this Anon story. Thus, there appear
to be enough outpoints to junk the entire story. This was not the case
when I first received it a few months ago - but has been the case since
a week after my first dispatch on this matter.
-
- Some basic aspects of the original Anon story ARE factual
eg: regarding the Lake Vostok magnetic anomaly and potential environmental
dangers of drilling there. What I have done is to append to my advisory
e-mails to you and others on this Anon storyline MY OWN views on geological
aspects and INFO from my discussions on matters geological with Prof.
Thomas Gold (which he was keen to see go public) as regards to the Lake
Vostok magnetic anomaly and the possible truth of the environmental gas
emission dangers reported in this Anon story.
-
- I append below relevant quotes from my various e-mails
on this subject for your info. Perhaps you could post this correction
onto the same page as the Lake Vostok story to clear up any misunderstanding
that might arise in your readers minds as to the EXACT origins of the original
ANON Lake Vostok story line, and my personal beliefs as to it's veracity.
-
- Regards, Harry Mason
-
-
- Excerpts from my more recent private discussion e-mails
to Nexus Magazine personnel (Jeff Rense - and others) on the Lake Vostok
NSA Over-Ride story line :-
-
-
- Re: the two women sking across the ice shelf scenario
- they were interviewed on Australian ABC news a few days ago after being
dropped off at an Australian Antarctic base by the US "rescue"
team. I saw this news segment. They stated they personally requested airlift
as their progress had been slower than anticipated and they were in danger
from rapidly advancing winter storms. Once these hit you are isolated
from air or ground rescue for months. They appeared quite relaxed but
wistful about their need for rescue - did not appear "got at"
- but who knows ???
-
- I have previously seen the most outrageous lies propagated
by our ABC TV News over the AUM sect and Banjawarn Station Sarin Nerve
gas stories. My personal field research interviewed the Banjawarn Station
people (indigenous and white) and uncovered a huge series of lies aired
knowingly by the ABC - so who knows on this Antarctic scenario ??? But
I begin to suspect we should red flag this story as of doubtful veracity
!!!
-
- Just another point about the "Space Mapping Mission
of Antarctica Aborted Due to NSA Over-Ride" story.
-
- The letter states that "The linked photo at the
end was released by NASA in Jan 2001 seemingly by mistake. It is no longer
available from the official archive" !!!
-
- Yet take a look at this reproduction of an official NASA
web site of the EXACT SAME radarsat image and the attached section (58.1Kb
jpg) image I just cut out today (1-03-2001 - 2.00pm) from the Vostock
High Resolution Bird's Eye View Tif (3.8Mb) that I downloaded today from
-
- http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagewall/antarctica/vostok.html
-
- Thus it has NOT been pulled as the Anon "NSA Over-Ride"
story alleges ..........
-
- Further - a close inspection reveals a road running diagonally
from SW to NE across the lake (smoothed out on Anons original jpg - but
just visible there also) that originates at a camp site in the SW corner
of the lake with a NNW trending "airstrip" ??? The road continues
NE off of the field of the image. I suspect that the image provided by
anon has incorrectly labelled the SW airstrip and camp as the "Magnetic
Anomaly" and has most certainly placed Vostok Station (Russia) with
an arrow pointing where there is nothing but Ice. Incidentally elsewhere
in NASA literature Vostok Station is said to be situated at the southern
end of the lake and if NASA followed convention with it's image orientation
then Vostok Station is where the airstrip-camp site show in the SW part
of the lake. In otherwords who ever wrote up the story line did NOT know
much about the correct location of things around lake vostok.
-
- Also the Russians have drilled down 3600 metres since
the lake discovery in the 1970's (to some 400 metres ??? above the liquid
lake surface) with preserved ice cores being sent to Montana State University
a few years ago. These have been analysed and they found various gases
locked up in the ice (including methane).
-
- Due to the above errors about the so called missing
(removed) image and the location of sites around Lake Vostok I am inclined
to place a very large red flag against this anon post. Do you have any
corroborative data for the original premise of NSA Over-Ride and the removal
from stage of Debra Shingteller..................
-
-
-
- A friend has found NASA Press Release 01-24 from Feb
21-2001 which I copy below for your info. THis is where the first part
of David's original Anon post came from - namely the names and addresses
of David E. Steitz and Rosemary Sullivent followed by the Release : 01-24
number.
-
- It does not prove that David's post from the anon editor
source is a fake however - since the body of his anon letter states who
it came from - but it is a tad worrying as to why it was inserted in a
manner that "appears" to give official status number 01-24 to
the title "SPACE MAPPING MISSION OF ANTARCTICA ABORTED DUE TO NSA
OVER-RIDE" . When the actual title of NASA Release 01-24 is (as seen
below) "SPACE MAPPING MISSION CATCHES ANTARCTICA IN MOTION"..............................
-
- Personally I would like to see some more backing for
the original press conference - Anon story ???? Have you got any more
info ???
-
- Just two extra points re Vostok story. I have just read
the story in the Antarctic Sun http://www.polar.org/AntSun/2001_0204/index.html
-
- I quote from there :-
-
- "The evidence is a huge magnetic anomaly on the
east coast of the lake's shoreline. As the first SOAR flight crossed over
to the lake's east side, the magnetometer dial swung suddenly. The readings
changed almost 1,000 nanotesla from the normal 60,000 nanoteslas around
Vostok. A tesla is the standard measure of magnetism. Studinger typically
finds anomalies of 500-to-600 nanotesla in places where volcanic material
has poured out of the ground
-
- "When we first saw this huge magnetic anomaly,
that was very exciting," Studinger said.
-
- Usually magnetic anomalies are much smaller and it takes
some effort to distinguish the anomaly from normal daily changes in the
magnetic field. In this case there was no confusion.
-
- "This anomaly is so big that it can't be caused
by a daily change in the magnetic field," Studinger said.
-
- The anomaly was big in another way, encompassing the
entire Southeast corner of the lake, about (65 b 46 miles) 105 km by 75
km. The size and extremity of the magnetic anomaly indicated the geological
structure changes beneath the lake, and Studinger guessed it might be
a region where the earth's crust is thinner.
-
- To create the type of topography found at Lake Vostok,
the earth's crust was probably stretched, thinning one to three percent
as it pulled taut, Studinger said."
-
- I (HM) deal with interpreteting aeromagnetic imagery
daily in my mineral exploration work here in OZ. The huge size and intensity
of the above mentioned magnetic anomaly strongly suggests a very large
ultrabasic complex is present below this section of lake Vostok in the
continental crustal rock surface ie at the old land surface -pre ice level.
This would fit with the apparently tensional pull-apart rifted tectonic
style of the lake geo-environment and would probably represent a major
mantle derrived plume of ultrabasic intrusives along the lines of Prof
Careys Expanding Earth diapirs - this fits the stretched crust model noted
by Studinger above.
-
- As such it would also fit Prof. Gold's hypothesis that
there is a substantial - possibly world climate dangerous amount if released
- volume of methane (as hydrate at the expected temperatures ???) plus
oil and other exotic gas (He, X, etc) component to the hot water lake
- sourced from the Mantle-Core along the upwelling structural plumbing.
The reported "ice boils" could easily be composed of gaseous
plumes frozen into the ice - arrested as it were in their upwards progress
- initially as hotwater gas mixtures but cooled by the surrounding ice
until their water content froze and they could no longer melt (ie. rise)
through the ice above them. As such these ice boils could represent fascinating
analogies with granite intrusive plumes in mountain belts - both "boils"
rise due to their heat melting above rock (ice) layers whiulst their lower
density relative to enclosing rocks causes a gravity gradient and drives
their upward motion until they crystalise (freeze).
-
- The ice "dunes" look like flat ice folded
under stress - also analagous to folds in sediments in mountain belts
around the planet - possibly due to gravity sliding away from the upwelling
diapir of lake vostok ???
- ------
-
-
- --Original Message--
- From: Nexus Magazine-UK
- To: davidkingston@ cropcircles.screaming.net
- 2-26-01
-
- Editor disclaimer: Yet unable to confirm authenticity
of JPL source
- 2/24/01 6:23:56 PM Pacific Standard Time
- This was sent to me. Where it came from I don't know
yet.
- David E. Steitz
- Nexus Magazine
-
- Headquarters, Washington, DC
- February 21, 2001
- Phone: 202 358-1730)
-
- Space-Mapping Mission Of Antarctica Aborted - Overruled
By The NSA
-
- Contact: Rosemary Sullivant
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
- Phone 818/354-0747
-
- RELEASE: 01-24-01
- In a brief announcment today, NASA and the JPL terminated
all further study of Lake Vostok in S. Antarctica. In an apparent slip
of confidentiality, spokeswoman Debra Shingteller alluded to "National
Security Issues" allowing the NSA to assume full control of what had
been an International effort to explore a huge, under-ice lake near the
Russian Vostok research station. Ms. Shingteller was immediately led away
from the podium, and an aid responded to the many further questions with
the same answer: "the project has been halted due to environmental
issues", and that no further releases were pending. The large crowd
of press corp. were left clamoring as the officials left the stage. Ms.
Shingteller has not responded to repeated attempts at contact.
-
- The above is a report from an official JPL PR representative
who attended the announcement.
-
- The following is part of a letter written to an editor
of Scientific American Magazine (who has requested anonymity). The linked
photo at the end was released by NASA in Jan 2001 seemingly by mistake.
It is no longer available from the official archive...
-
- (See satellite mages of Lake Vostok here -ed) http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/antmag.html
-
-
- Approximately 300 miles from the South Pole there is
a lake, a very large lake. It is Lake Vostok. It is also located over 3/4
mile beneath the Continental Ice Sheet. The best photos of Lk Vostok are
from space, where the outline is clearly visible. Current ice-penetrating
radar studies indicate that the water is up to 2000 ft deep in places,
and has an over-arching dome up to 1/2 mile high. Estimates for filtered
light at the lake surface indicate something like "continuous first
morning light" during Antarctica's summer months. Thermograph imaging
proposes an amazing 50-degree average water temperature with "hot
spots" near 65 degrees. This can only be attributed to subsurface
geothermal heat sources. At 300 miles long, and 50 miles wide, the encapsulated
atmosphere should have the ability to cleanse itself through interaction
with the lake, and possibly... plant life.
-
- Also proposed as a possible route for atmospheric interaction
with the lake's environment are what are being labeled "geothermal
boils". These are thousands of bubbles in the ice sheet located in
the some 200 sq. miles of "ice dunes" discovered by the late
Russian scientist Ivan Toskovoi who was stationed at Vostok research base
until his disappearance in March 2000. The surveyed bubbles range from
a few to several hundred feet in diameter.
-
- Quite possibly just as exciting as all of the data related
so far, is the discovery through Magnetic Imaging that there is an extremely
powerful source of magnetic energy located at the North end of the lake's
shoreline. As of this writing, no one has suggested an explanation for
the magnetic "anomaly".
-
- As recently as February 2000, at least two international
teams were planning separate probes of the lake. Both consisted of fairly
similar robotic sensors that would have been lowered through shafts(to
be drilled). The team based at Cambridge University, London were sponsored
by the UK and US governments, and backed by NASA technology. For reasons
not clear, both programs have been shelved indefinitely, with NASA going
so far as to deny any involvement, and both governments citing "environmental
concerns". An independent source that visited Norway's research base
some 150 miles to the East stated that a large amount of new equipment
and personnel have been arriving at Russia's Vostok Station over the last
six months. This is interesting considering Russia's current financial
situation.
-
- A final note is a verified dispatch out of Casey Station(AU).
The pair of women adventurers who were attempting to ski across the continent
last month, and were extracted by plane during the last leg of their trip,
did NOT request the intervention. Over the protests of the Australian crew
at Casey, the two were airlifted via an extraordinary 48 hour flight by
a USN Special Forces team out of American Samoa. According to the dispatch
the women were insistent on reporting something unusual they had seen.
The latest news reports have the pair resting in "seclusion".
-
- LAKE VOSTOK : A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary
Study? The Lost World of Lake Vostok Radio Echo Sounding of Ice Deciphering
Mysteries of Past Climate From Antarctic Ice Cores Antarctica's Lake Vostok
Exploring Lake Vostok Scientists say Antarctic lake worth a look-see WARM
LAKE FOUND UNDER ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET Frozen Time Capsule From Lake Vostok
Arrives At Montana State University Bacteria May Thrive in Antarctic Lake
The frosty plains of Europa
-
- NEXUS MAGAZINE UK Office 55 Queens Road, East Grinstead,
West Sussex, RH19 1BG, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1342 322854; Fax: +44 (0)1342 324574
UK Office e-mail: nexus@ ukoffice.u-net.com Head Office e-mail (Australia):
editor@ nexusmagazine.com website: www.nexusmagazine.com
-
- Best regards,
- David Kingston
U.K.
-
-
- The following e-mail reflects Professor Thomas Gold's
views on the subject of the above Nexus Magazine Lake Vostock post data.
Professor Gold and I have entered into a long e-mail debate over Martian
Water & Palaeo Seas/planetary wide Ice sheets and have discussed at
length his theories of continuously renewed Earth Core-Mantle derrived
methane and oil - as opposed to the finite volume squashed bug/plant theories
of the origin of oil - extant in western oil company dominated science.
Prof Gold had previously stated his belief to me that Lake Vostock could
contain large amounts of methane under pressure and that drilling into
same might represent a hazardous operation.....
-
- See his various oil & gas papers (including reasons
for magnetite concentrations) at http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21
-
-
- Dear Mr. Mason:
-
- Thank you for this fascinating information.
-
- I had previously considered informing the Vostok investigators,
Russian,UK,US, that there was a severe hazard that above the water there
would most likely be a large amount of methane, and breaking into that
would be very hazardous. It may of course be so large an amount that letting
it out would make a severe change of atmospheric chemistry, and hence of
climate.
-
- The bubbles in the ice, the large dome, and the magnetic
anomaly all point to such a situation. Most permafrost regions have methane
underneath them, and this would be by far the largest of them. May be the
scientist who vanished crashed into a methane ice bubble. Large deposits
of magnetite are common in methane-rich regions, being produced from iron
oxides acting as oxygen donor to microbes that live on the oxidation of
methane.
-
- If you have the contacts, feel free, or even encouraged,
to distribute this letter to other parties in this business, together with
my name. I don't wish to hide behind anonymity.
-
- Yours sincerely,
Thomas Gold
2-28-01
_____
-
-
-
- (Here is the original story on rense.com about the exploration
of Lake Vostok. -ed)
-
-
- Antarctic Lake Isolated 40 Million Years To
Be Explored
-
- By Roger Highfield
The Electronic Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
9-21-99
-
- Scientists are to explore one of the world's last uncharted
natural wonders, a lake trapped beneath the Antarctic ice.
-
- Eighty scientists from 14 countries will meet in Cambridge
next week to discuss how to study the strange life expected to lurk in
Lake Vostok, a body of water the size of Lake Ontario resting more than
two miles under the East Antarctic ice cap. The lake is one of the world's
10 largest and one of about 80 lakes that underlie 10 per cent of the ice
sheet of Antarctica.
-
- Lake Vostok formed as a result of the combination of
overlying pressure of ice and heat from the Earth's core. It fascinates
scientists because it appears to have been isolated for millions of years,
providing an opportunity for life to develop along a separate evolutionary
path.
-
- Micro-organisms that have been isolated for between one
and 40 million years may be found in its sediments and water, potentially
yielding promising new enzymes or antibiotics, and offering views of how
ancient and contemporary microbes differ, says Cynan Ellis-Evans, who is
organising the conference at Lucy Cavendish College.
-
- Dr Ellis-Evans, a microbiologist with the British Antarctic
Survey, Cambridge, said the conditions in the lake are probably too barren
and cold - sub-zero - for larger organisms to evolve. "It could be
one of the most extreme, nutrient poor, permanently pressurised, permanently
cold, permanently dark environments on the planet." This would lead
to slow-growing microbes that are adapted to a life of starvation. However,
if a volcanic or hot spring system pumped in energy, a greater diversity
of creatures may be present.
-
- Lake Vostok is likely to be the oldest of all the "sub-glacial"
ice lakes because of its size. If it has been isolated for 40 million years,
there would have been enough time for unique creatures to evolve, as opposed
to creatures that have adapted to a new environment. The Antarctic studies
may be a prelude to similar missions elsewhere in our solar system, notably
to Jupiter's moon Europa. Nasa regards the Vostok mission as a testbed
for the search for alien life on the oceans thought to exist on Europa.
-
- The Vostok exploration would take place in the next five
years. The exploration of Europa would be in a series of missions beginning
in 2003 and lasting for 15 years. Dr Ellis-Evans said: "All the Nasa
people I am talking to are very enthusiastic about an ice penetration mission
in 2015. I have no problem with the basic idea that there may be microbial
life somewhere like Europa as good life markers exist there, notably liquid
water, organic molecules and chemical energy sources."
-
- The first entry of a probe into Lake Vostok will require
extraordinary precautions to ensure that the vehicle and its instruments
are clean, so as not to contaminate the pristine lake. One suggestion is
to use a Cryobot, a 10ft 6in pencil-shaped device with a heated tip that
unspools a cable carrying power and a fibre-optic video and data cable.
-
- The Cryobot splits into two under the ice and the top
half stays at the ice-water interface to hunt for life. The lower part
(the point of the pencil) continues down a smaller cable until it hits
the sediment at the bottom, where it will also search for life and release
a Hydrobot, a tiny submarine equipped with sonar and a camera. The Hydrobot
rises like a soap bubble, reporting what it sees above and below it.
-
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