Collaborative Research: Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA): Integrated Study of Carbon Cycling in Hydrologically-active Subglacial Environments

南极冰下环境仍然是地球上最少探索的地区之一。 该项目将研究冰下湖美世的物理和生物特征，该湖位于西南极冰盖下1200米处。 这项研究将解决与冰盖稳定性、冰下水文系统和极冷冰下生物圈有关的关键问题。 教育和外联部分旨在通过短片、博客和网站向科学界和公众广泛传播成果。冰下湖美世是西南极洲惠兰斯冰原南部盆地较大的水文活跃湖泊之一。 它接收约25%的水来自东南极洲，其余来自西南极洲，受到上游湖泊（冰下湖康威）的排水/填充循环的影响，位于罗斯冰架目前接地线上游约100公里处。 该网站将提供有关惠兰和美世冰流历史以及接地线迁移的信息。 综合研究将包括直接采样的基础冰，水和沉积物从湖与地面地球物理调查在三年的时间内，以确定水文之间的连通性湖上Whillans冰平原和他们的流动路径到大海。地球物理调查将提供有关冰下水文的信息，帮助热水钻探的选址，并为解释调查结果提供空间背景。这些热水钻孔将用于收集基底冰样本，提供直接测量冰下水柱和沉积物中的物理、化学和生物条件的途径，并使用配备传感器、摄像机和取样设备的遥控潜水器探索冰下水腔。从这项研究中收集的数据将解决总体假设“当代生物多样性和碳循环在水文活跃的冰下环境与美世和Whillans冰流的残余海洋有机物的矿化和循环，并通过冰，岩石，水和沉积物之间的相互作用进行调节”。该项目将由一个具有微生物学、地球化学、水文学、地球物理学、冰川学、海洋地质学、古海洋学和科学传播方面专门知识的科学家协作小组开展。

The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions on Earth. This project will examine the physical and biological characteristics of Subglacial Lake Mercer, a lake that lies 1200m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This study will address key questions relating to the stability of the ice sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. The education and outreach component aims to widely disseminate results to the scientific community and to the general public through short films, a blog, and a website.Subglacial Lake Mercer is one of the larger hydrologically active lakes in the southern basin of the Whillans Ice Plain, West Antarctica. It receives about 25 percent of its water from East Antarctica with the remainder originating from West Antarctica, is influenced by drain/fill cycles in a lake immediately upstream (Subglacial Lake Conway), and lies about 100 km upstream of the present grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf. This site will yield information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer Ice Streams, and on grounding line migration. The integrated study will include direct sampling of basal ice, water, and sediment from the lake in concert with surface geophysical surveys over a three-year period to define the hydrological connectivity among lakes on the Whillans Ice Plain and their flow paths to the sea. The geophysical surveys will furnish information on subglacial hydrology, aid the site selection for hot-water drilling, and provide spatial context for interpreting findings. The hot-water-drilled boreholes will be used to collect basal ice samples, provide access for direct measurement of subglacial physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water column and sediments, and to explore the subglacial water cavities using a remotely operated vehicle equipped with sensors, cameras, and sampling equipment. Data collected from this study will address the overarching hypothesis "Contemporary biodiversity and carbon cycling in hydrologically-active subglacial environments associated with the Mercer and Whillans ice streams are regulated by the mineralization and cycling of relict marine organic matter and through interactions among ice, rock, water, and sediments". The project will be undertaken by a collaborative team of scientists, with expertise in microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology, geophysics, glaciology, marine geology, paleoceanography, and science communication.