A NORTH-EAST scientist is taking part in a quest to discover vital secrets about the Earth’s past from one of its most inhospitable places.

After 16 years of planning, the countdown is on for one of the most ambitious scientific missions to Antarctica ever attempted.

Next month, a team of British scientists, engineers and support staff will travel nearly 10,000 miles to the frozen continent to collect samples of water and sediments from an ancient lake buried beneath nearly two miles of ice.

They hope to discover more about the Earth’s past climate and discover long-lost life forms in the sub-glacial Lake Ellsworth, on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Professor Mike Bentley, from Durham University’s geography department, will spearhead the UK-based part of the team analysing samples brought up from the dark icy depths.

He said: “This extraordinary research project crosses the frontiers of exploration.

“It’s a trip into the unknown sub-glacial world that will yield new knowledge about the evolution of life on Earth and other planets and will provide vital clues about the Earth’s past climate.”

For three years, engineers have been working on a stateof- the-art titanium water sampling probe capable of being lowered down a two-mile borehole in the ice made by a custom-built hot water drill.

The team hopes to have set up its Antarctic field camp by December.

The borehole will take 100 hours to drill.

Scientists will then have only 24 hours to take samples before the borehole re-freezes and re-seals the lake. They will be working at minus 25 degrees Celsius, in winds of about 25 knots.

Programme manager Chris Hill, from the British Antarctic Survey, said: “This time last a year a small advance party transported nearly 70 tonnes of equipment 16,000km from the UK to the drilling site.

“Now, one year later, we will ship another 26 tonnes of equipment onto the continent so that we can complete stage two of this challenging field mission. We set foot on the ice again in October and hope to bring samples to the surface in December – an historic moment we have all been waiting for.”