Collaborative Research: GeomicroBiology of Antarctic Subglacial Environments (GBASE) Beneath the Mercer and Whillans Ice Streams

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。GBASE项目（南极冰下环境的地球微生物学）是WISSARD（惠兰斯冰流冰下通道研究钻探）综合计划的三个研究组成部分之一，该计划由美国国家科学基金会极地计划办公室南极分部的南极综合系统科学计划资助。WISSARD的首要科学目标是评估南极西部冰流下的水在相互关联的冰川学、地质学、微生物学、地球化学和海洋学系统中的作用。GBASE将使用生物地球化学/基因组测量的组合来研究不同的，但与水文相关的冰下环境，以回答与代谢和系统发育生物多样性直接相关的关键问题，以及惠兰斯冰流下主要营养物质的生物地球化学转化。我们预计与冰流相关的微生物群落是一个代谢动态的生态系统，并特别提出了以下问题：(1)微生物群落结构是什么？(2)原地群落的代谢功能是什么？了解与地球元素转化相关的生物地球化学过程是NSF十年计划的中心主题，2007年NRC报告建议使用多学科工具研究极地地区的这些转化，该报告指出“是时候开始对冰下湖泊进行科学研究了”。GBASE的结果将被LISSARD和RAGES （WISSARD项目的另外两个组成部分）的研究人员用于从整体生态系统的角度来看待他们的结果。学术价值：政府间气候变化专门委员会的最新报告认识到，评估未来全球海平面变化的最大不确定性源于对冰盖动态和冰盖易受海洋和大气变暖影响的认识不足。仅西南极冰盖的解体就会导致全球海平面上升3-5米，由于其内部或海洋驱动的不稳定的潜在敏感性，使西南极冰盖成为科学关注的焦点。整个WISSARD项目将测试一个总体假设，即活跃的排水系统连接了各种冰下环境，并对冰盖流动、地球化学、代谢和系统发育多样性以及生物地球化学转化发挥主要控制作用。更广泛的影响：社会相关性：全球变暖、冰盖融化和随之而来的海平面上升具有高度的社会相关性。科学资源开发：在中断了9年之后，WISSARD将为美国科学界提供获取和研究亚冰盖环境的新能力。发展这一技术基础设施将使更广泛的科学界受益，并将通过NSF-OPP钻井承包商获得未来使用的资产。此外，这些项目将率先实施国家研究委员会关于探索和研究冰下环境的环境管理原则委员会（2007年）的建议。教育和推广（E/O）：这些活动分为四类：i)通过将学生充分融入我们的研究计划，增加学生对极地研究的参与；ii)通过将有前途的年轻研究人员纳入我们的项目，向极地科学引入新的研究人员；iii)通过整合各种教师和NSTA项目，促进K-12教学和学习计划；iv)通过大众科学杂志、博物馆活动、摄像和纪录片等渠道接触更多的公众观众。总而言之，WISSARD将通过向公众传达进入和研究地球上最后未开发的水生环境的兴奋，从而促进对南极洲的科学探索，这些水生环境代表了欧罗巴和火星上外星生命栖息地的潜在类似物。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The GBASE project (GeomicroBiology of Antarctic Subglacial Environments) is one of three research components of the WISSARD (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling) integrative initiative that is being funded by the Antarctic Integrated System Science Program of NSF's Office of Polar Programs, Antarctic Division. The overarching scientific objective of WISSARD is to assess the role of water beneath a West Antarctic ice stream in interlinked glaciological, geological, microbiological, geochemical, and oceanographic systems. GBASE will examine distinct, but hydrologically related, subglacial environments using a combination of biogeochemical/ genomic measurements to answer key questions directly relevant to metabolic and phylogenetic biodiversity, and the biogeochemical transformation of major nutrients beneath the Whillans Ice Stream. We expect the microbial communities associated with the ice stream to be a metabolically dynamic ecosystem, and specifically ask (1) what is the microbial community structure and (2) what is the metabolic function of the community in situ? Understanding biogeochemical processes involved with elemental transformations on our planet is a central theme in NSF's decadal plan and the use of multidisciplinary tools to study these transformations in polar regions has been recommended by a 2007 NRC report that states "It is time for scientific research on subglacial lakes to begin". GBASE results will be used by investigators of LISSARD and RAGES (the other two components of the WISSARD project) to cast their results in a holistic ecosystem perspective.INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recognized that the greatest uncertainties in assessing future global sea-level change stem from a poor understanding of ice sheet dynamics and ice sheet vulnerability to oceanic and atmospheric warming. Disintegration of the WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) alone would contribute 3-5 m to global sea-level rise, making WAIS a focus of scientific concern due to its potential susceptibility to internal or ocean-driven instability. The overall WISSARD project will test the overarching hypothesis that active water drainage connects various subglacial environments and exerts major control on ice sheet flow, geochemistry, metabolic and phylogenetic diversity, and biogeochemical transformations. BROADER IMPACTS: Societal Relevance: Global warming, melting of ice sheets and consequential sea-level rise are of high societal relevance. Science Resource Development: After a 9-year hiatus WISSARD will provide the US-science community with a renewed capability to access and study sub-ice sheet environments. Developing this technological infrastructure will benefit the broader science community and assets will be accessible for future use through the NSF-OPP drilling contractor. Furthermore, these projects will pioneer an approach implementing recommendations from the National Research Council committee on Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the Exploration and Study of Subglacial Environments (2007). Education and Outreach (E/O): These activities are grouped into four categories: i) increasing student participation in polar research by fully integrating them in our research programs; ii) introducing new investigators to the polar sciences by incorporating promising young investigators in our programs, iii) promotion of K-12 teaching and learning programs by incorporating various teachers and NSTA programs, and iv) reaching a larger public audience through such venues as popular science magazines, museum based activities and videography and documentary films. In summary, WISSARD will promote scientific exploration of Antarctica by conveying to the public the excitement of accessing and studying what may be some of the last unexplored aquatic environments on Earth, and which represent a potential analogue for extraterrestrial life habitats on Europa and Mars.