AGU Chapman Conference on the Exploration and Study of Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments

AGU查普曼南极冰下水环境探索与研究会议

• 批准号: 0947665
• 负责人: Brenda Weaver
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: American Geophysical Union
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0947665&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: AGU; Chapman; Conference; Exploration; Study

This award provides support for a Chapman Conference on the Exploration and Study of Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments. The conference will bring together a diverse group of attendees to discuss their most recent results, and to share future plans for subglacial lake exploration. Since the last major conference on this topic in April 2006 (Grenoble, France) the number of recognized Antarctic subglacial lakes has increased from ~150 to more than 250. It is now recognized that these often interconnected subglacial aquatic ecosystems are likely to have important implications for ice sheet dynamics, evolution of microbial life and possibly life on other planets, and to be important repositories of sediment-stored climate change records. Three major field projects are planning to access subglacial lakes in 2011/2012: Lake Vostok (Russia), Lake Ellsworth (UK), and Lake Whillans (US- the WISSARD project), so this conference will also be an excellent venue to discuss technological challenges including clean access of pristine environments (prevention of microbial and chemical contamination of the subsurface world from above) and the challenges of drilling through deep ice under high pressure, or the challenges of making a large enough hole in the ice so that robots can be deployed. The four major themes of the conference are: 1) Subglacial aquatic environments as habitats for life: (a) life detection in subglacial lakes and (b) hydrochemistry/limnology/biogeochemistry of subglacial lakes. (2) The role of sub-ice water in subglacial hydrology: (a) ice sheet evolution and lake development and (b) lake discharges and ice sheet responses. (3) Sedimentary records in subglacial aquatic environments: (a) studies of sediments from former subglacial lakes and (b) potential proxies held in lake- floor sediments and detection methods. (4) Technological challenges in the exploration of subglacial aquatic environments: (a) clean lake-access techniques and (b) probe and instrumentation design. The results of the conference will be widely disseminated (an AGU monograph, several reports to the scientific community, web accessible recordings and simultaneous web casts of the conference itself, as well as outreach to the public media). Participants will come from several countries, therefore the conference will foster international collaboration. Inclusion of early career scientists and students in the presentation and discussion of a necessarily interdisciplinary, integrated, and truly cutting edge area of Antarctic science will be extremely valuable in training the next generation of Antarctic researchers. In summary, the long-term objective of the conference is to establish a sustainable, vibrant and growing Antarctic subglacial aquatic environment program. NSF funds will be used to support student participants, some invited speakers and program committee members, and a few other meeting contributors that require financial assistance. Travel awards will be evenly distributed based on geographical location with priority given to students.

该奖项为查普曼南极冰下水生环境探索和研究会议提供支持。会议将汇集不同的与会者，讨论他们的最新成果，并分享冰下湖泊勘探的未来计划。 自2006年4月关于这一主题的最后一次大型会议（法国格勒诺布尔）以来，公认的南极冰下湖泊数量已从约150个增加到250多个。现在人们认识到，这些往往相互关联的冰下水生生态系统可能对冰盖动态、微生物生命的演变以及其他星球上可能存在的生命具有重要意义，并且是沉积物储存的气候变化记录的重要储存库。计划在2011/2012年开展三个主要实地项目，以进入冰下湖泊：沃斯托克湖（俄罗斯）、埃尔斯沃思湖（英国）和惠兰湖（美国-WISSARD项目），因此，这次会议也将是一个讨论技术挑战的绝佳场所，包括清洁进入原始环境（防止来自上方的地下世界的微生物和化学污染）以及在高压下钻穿深冰的挑战，或者在冰上打一个足够大的洞以便部署机器人的挑战。会议的四大主题是：1）作为生命栖息地的冰下水生环境：（a）冰下湖泊的生命探测和（B）冰下湖泊的水化学/湖沼学/地球化学。(2)冰下水在冰下水文学中的作用：（a）冰盖演变和湖泊发展以及（B）湖泊排放和冰盖响应。 (3)冰下水生环境中的沉积记录：（a）来自前冰下湖泊的沉积物研究和（B）湖底沉积物中的潜在替代物和检测方法。 (4)冰下水生环境勘探方面的技术挑战：（a）清洁湖泊进入技术和（B）探测器和仪器设计。会议的成果将广泛传播（AGU的一本专著、向科学界提交的几份报告、可上网查阅的会议录音和会议本身的同步网播，以及与公共媒体的联系）。与会者将来自多个国家，因此会议将促进国际合作。让早期的职业科学家和学生参与介绍和讨论南极科学的一个必要的跨学科、综合和真正尖端的领域，对培训下一代南极研究人员将是极其宝贵的。总之，会议的长期目标是建立一个可持续的，充满活力的和不断增长的南极冰下水生环境计划。NSF的资金将用于支持学生参与者，一些受邀演讲者和计划委员会成员，以及其他一些需要财政援助的会议贡献者。旅行奖励将根据地理位置平均分配，并优先考虑学生。