Vostok

At Vostok Station (S78°28′ E106°50′), the lowest reliably measured temperature on earth of -128.6°F (-89.2°C) was measured in 1983 (Turne et al. 2009). The Russian research station is located at an elevation exceeding 11,000 feet above sea level. Below the station is 4 km of ice. At the base of the ice is the largest of 200 lakes buried beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, Lake Vostok. In 2012, the Russian Antarctic Expedition completed drilling through the ice to reach the surface of the lake. It is estimated that the lake has been isolated for 15 million years.Samples were collected,and the discovery of an unclassified microbe was reported in 2013. But cutbacks in research funding have stopped further progress at the lake (Gramling, 2015; Gramling, 2012).

References: Gramling, Carolyn. 2015. Mysterious Arctic Lake Will Remain Out of Reach. Science 350:494.

Gramling, Carolyn, 2012. A tiny window opens into Lake Vostok, while vast continent awaits. Science 335:789.

Turne, John et al. 2009. Record Low Surface Air Temperature at Vostok Station, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research 114:D24002. DOI:10.1029/2009JD012104.