It’s tough to get less hospitable than an Antarctic glacier — but scientists say there’s a whole ecosystem living under that ice.

Specifically, underneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. A team led by researchers from Montana State University drilled into a lake that’s been sealed off from the sun and wind for millions of years.

And they found microbes - tiny single-celled organisms that subsist on the lake’s sulphur and ammonium.

The project was part of WISSARD, short for Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling. It’s a project funded by the National Science Foundation to investigate the biology of Antarctica’s subglacial lakes.

The team used a hot water drill to bore through the ice, and a decontamination system designed to prevent their own equipment from introducing any new microbes into the environment

All in all, signs of 3,931 species was revealed through DNA sequencing.

The MSU team’s findings are published in the journal Nature.