Science The Vostok lake's bottom mapped

[SiberianTiger]

Forgive my ignorance.. But.. Why can't the science team continue working year-round at Lake Vostok?

Why can't planes land in the winter? Don't polar overflights by commercial jets experience even colder temps?

Don't we have good enough technology and insulation to handle the -60C temps?
What doesn't work there in the winter and why must they evacuate the base?

Does anyone know of any links or .pdf's about polar base operations and things like that?
Yep, I'll do my part and search around a bit too.

I read that the reason is beause hydraulic liquid would freeze in airplane's landing gear at temperatures less than -50°C. And surface doesn't allow for good skimming at this temp too. An airplane can just freeze to the ground and loose a chance to take off again. Plus, location at 3,500 m above sea level makes landing and take-off complicated even at more favourable conditions. At the same time, there were exceptions when piston-engine driven prop planes went there in case of emergency.

 

[Notebook]

BBC article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16907998

Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice.