SGER: Retrieval of Basal Water from the NorthGRIP Borehole

这个奖项是作为探索性研究（SGER）的小额赠款。 2003年，在过去七年中，在北格陵兰的NorthGRIP现场完成了一项新的深层钻探作业。 钻探者到达了3085米深的基岩，从而提供了格陵兰岛最长的深冰芯。钻孔完成后，基底水淹没钻孔至约45米的深度，并回收了0.5米冻结的粉红色冰（再冻结的基底融水）。冰填充有密度为约0.3g/cm 3的气体。最近在南极冰中和冰下发现的细菌生命表明，地球包含一个以前未被认识的寒冷生物圈，它积极参与地球化学过程。人们对NorthGRIP的基底水冰知之甚少，比如为什么它是粉红色的，气体是什么，它是否含有细菌生命以及底部有多少水。 因此，格陵兰岛和南极洲一样，现在已知在某些地方有基底液态水，并且可能有极端环境中生命的证据。 冰芯是过去气候信息的重要来源，可以帮助衡量人类对环境的影响。它们揭示了气候系统如何运作以及气体的含量。收集到的样本将为极端环境中的潜在生命提供“快照”，这些极端环境类似于可能存在于其他行星上的环境。 主要研究人员正在申请资金，与欧洲NorthGRIP社区合作，并支持2004年夏季的实地调查，以收集目前冻结在钻孔中的冰，并收集基底融水的干净样本。 这些样本将通过分离样本进行分析而提供给美国研究人员。

ABSTRACTWhite OPP-0413572This award is being made as a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER). A new deep drilling operation was completed in 2003 in North Greenland at the NorthGRIP site over the past seven years. Drillers reached bedrock at a depth of 3, 085 M, thus providing the longest Greenland deep ice core. After the drilling was completed, basal water flooded the hole to a depth of about 45 M and 0.5 M of frozen pink ice (refrozen basal melt water) was recovered. The ice is filled with gas which has a density of about 0.3 g/cm3. Recent discoveries of bacterial life in and under Antarctic ice have revealed that the Earth contains a previously unrecognized cold biosphere that is actively involved in biogeochemical processes. Little is known about the basal water ice at NorthGRIP, such as why it is pink, what the gas is, if it contains bacterial life and how much water is at the base. Thus, Greenland, like Antarctica, now is known to have basal liquid water in some locations and may have evidence of life in an extreme environment.The broader impacts of this proposal are numerous. Ice cores are a key source of information on past climates and can help scale human impacts on the environment. They reveal how the climate system works and the content of the gases. The samples collected will offer a 'snapshot' into potential life in extreme environments similar to those that may exist on other planets. This Principal Investigators are requesting funds to partner with the European NorthGRIP community and support a field season in the summer of 2004 to collect the ice that is currently frozen in the borehole, and to collect clean samples of the basal melt water. These samples will be available to U.S. researchers by splitting the samples for analyses.