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

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。这次会议将汇集不同的与会者，讨论他们的最新成果，并分享未来冰下湖泊勘探的计划。自2006年4月关于这一专题的上一次重大会议(法国格勒诺布尔)以来，已确认的南极冰下湖泊的数量已从约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力学、微生物生命的演化以及其他行星上的生命产生重要影响，并可能成为储存沉积物的气候变化记录的重要储存库。三个主要的实地项目正计划在2011/2012年进入冰下湖泊：沃斯托克湖(俄罗斯)、埃尔斯沃斯湖(英国)和惠兰斯湖(美国-WISSARD项目)，因此这次会议也将是一个很好的讨论技术挑战的场所，包括清洁地进入原始环境(防止从上方对地下世界造成微生物和化学污染)、在高压下通过深冰钻探的挑战，或者在冰上钻一个足够大的洞以便部署机器人的挑战。会议的四个主要主题是：1)作为生命栖息地的冰下水生环境：(A)冰下湖泊中的生命探测和(B)冰下湖泊的水化学/湖湖学/生物地球化学。(2)冰下水在冰下水文学中的作用：(A)冰盖演化和湖泊发育；(B)湖泊排放和冰盖响应。(3)冰下水环境的沉积记录：(A)以前冰下湖泊沉积物的研究和(B)湖底沉积物中潜在的代用品和检测方法。(4)探索冰下水生环境方面的技术挑战：(A)清洁的入湖技术和(B)探头和仪器设计。会议成果将广泛传播(AGU专著、向科学界提交的几份报告、会议本身的网上录音和同步网络广播，以及与公众媒体的外联活动)。与会者将来自几个国家，因此这次会议将促进国际合作。让早期职业科学家和学生参与介绍和讨论必然是跨学科的、综合的和真正前沿的南极科学领域，对于培养下一代南极研究人员将是极其宝贵的。总而言之，会议的长期目标是建立一个可持续、充满活力和不断增长的南极冰下水环境计划。NSF的资金将用于支持学生参与者、一些受邀的演讲者和项目委员会成员，以及其他一些需要经济援助的会议贡献者。旅游奖励将根据地理位置平均分配，优先考虑学生。

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.