Life has been discovered in one of Earth's most extreme locations, hidden beneath 14 meters of ice. (See photo)

Lake Enigma is a constantly frozen body of water located in the northern foothills of Victoria Land in Antarctica. This body of water is considered one of the most extreme environments on the planet and one of the least likely places on Earth where scientists would expect to find life. However, that has changed, as reported by The Debrief.

It was previously thought that the lake remained completely frozen, but in a new study, an international team of scientists discovered a vast amount of unfrozen water hidden beneath an astonishing 14 meters of ice. Even more intriguing was the finding of a hidden microbial ecosystem thriving in this environment.

The new discovery is part of the ENIGMA project, funded by the National Program for Antarctic Research, and it challenges everything we previously knew about Lake Enigma. The authors of the study also believe that their findings suggest the possibility of microbial life existing in similar inhospitable environments elsewhere in our Solar System, including on icy moons like Jupiter's Europa.

The international team of scientists included researchers from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, along with several other institutions. The team conducted their analysis of the frozen lake using the nearby Italian research station, Mario Zucchelli, in Antarctica.

It is noteworthy that Lake Enigma was first discovered in 1989 and had been considered completely frozen all this time. Then, in late 2019 and early 2020, scientists conducted radar studies and confirmed that beneath the 14 meters of ice covering the lake lies a massive reservoir of unfrozen water.

This discovery prompted scientists to drill through the 14-meter layer of ice and deploy underwater cameras, allowing them to capture detailed images of the hidden ecosystem of the lake. The authors of the study noted that they found the presence, and sometimes dominance, of ultramicrobacteria belonging to the superphylum Patescibacteria.

Interestingly, these bacteria have also been found in the dry valleys of McMurdo in Antarctica in the past. Research indicates that cyanobacteria are nearly absent in the ice and water column of the Antarctic lake, although they are well represented in its extensive and diverse benthic microbial mats.

The team notes that the microbial mats found in Lake Enigma consist of colonies of microorganisms formed into layered films, with the largest reaching approximately 40 centimeters in height and 60 centimeters in width.

The presence of Patescibacteria was detected through DNA analysis of water samples taken from the lake, which surprised the scientists. The reason is that these bacteria had not been previously found in such environments, leading researchers to question whether they play a predatory or symbiotic role in the hidden ecosystem beneath the ice.