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)提供资金的。GBASE(南极冰下环境地球微生物学)项目是由美国国家科学基金会极地计划办公室南极分部南极综合系统科学计划资助的WISSARD(Whillans Ice Stream Uniacial Access Research Drilling)综合倡议的三个研究组成部分之一。WISSARD的总体科学目标是评估西南极冰流下的水在相互关联的冰川学、地质学、微生物学、地球化学和海洋系统中的作用。GBASE将利用生物地球化学/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，以回答与新陈代谢和系统发育生物多样性直接相关的关键问题，以及惠兰冰流下主要营养物质的生物地球化学转化。我们期望与冰流相关的微生物群落是一个新陈代谢动态的生态系统，并特别询问(1)微生物群落结构是什么，(2)原位群落的代谢功能是什么？了解与我们星球上的元素转化有关的生物地球化学过程是NSF十年计划的一个中心主题，2007年NRC的一份报告建议使用多学科工具来研究极地地区的这些转化，该报告指出，“现在是开始对冰下湖泊进行科学研究的时候了”。GBASE结果将被LISSARD和RAGE(WISSARD项目的另外两个组成部分)的研究人员用来将他们的结果放在一个整体的生态系统视角中。信息优点：政府间气候变化专门委员会的最新报告承认，评估未来全球海平面变化的最大不确定性来自于对冰盖动力学和冰盖易受海洋和大气变暖影响的认识不足。仅南极西部冰盖的解体就将导致全球海平面上升3-5米，这使其成为科学关注的焦点，因为它可能容易受到内部或海洋驱动的不稳定的影响。整个WISSARD项目将检验最重要的假设，即活跃的水排放连接各种冰下环境，并对冰盖流动、地球化学、新陈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、冰盖融化以及由此导致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9年后，WISSARD将为美国科学界提供访问和研究亚冰盖环境的新能力。开发这一技术基础设施将使更广泛的科学界受益，资产将通过NSF-OPP钻井承包商获得，供未来使用。此外，这些项目将开创一种方法，落实国家研究理事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。教育和外联(E/O)：这些活动分为四类：i)通过将极地研究完全纳入我们的研究计划来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计划来引入新的极地科学研究人员；iii)通过结合各种教师和NSTA计划来促进K-12教学计划；以及iv)通过科普杂志、博物馆活动以及录像和纪录片等场所接触到更多的公众受众。总之，WISSARD将通过向公众传达访问和研究可能是地球上最后一些未被探索的水生环境的兴奋之情，促进对南极洲的科学探索，这些环境可能是欧罗巴和火星上外星生命栖息地的潜在类比。

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.