[2] Helen Amanda Fricker from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered Mercer Subglacial Lake in 2007, while using satellite laser altimetry to search for the grounding line of a glacier.

[5] The drill water is run through filters that catch 99.9% of bacteria and particles,[6] followed by UV light exposure and pasteurization.

[8] The lake water samples contains enough oxygen to support aquatic animals, and bacteria are present with a density of at least 10,000 cells per millilitre.

Other ancient organisms retrieved from the sediments include shells of diatoms (a photosynthetic algae) and thread-like plants or fungi.

The sediment cores will also be analysed by geobiologists to study how relict organic matter deposited during marine incursions influences contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling.