COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Remote Characterization of Microbial Mats in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, through In Situ Sampling and Spectral Validation

微生物垫子遍布麦克默多干燥山谷，夏季的积雪融化提供了液态水，使这些垫子茁壮成长。研究人员长期以来一直在研究微生物垫生长所需的环境条件。尽管做出了这些努力，但很难全面了解这些独特的生态系统。卫星技术的最新进展现在为研究人员提供了一个令人兴奋的新工具，利用与微生物垫相关的独特光谱特征，从太空研究这些特殊的南极生态系统。这项新技术不仅提供了从太空绘制和研究微生物垫的前景，这项研究还将有助于保护这些脆弱的环境，使其免受从地面研究时可能发生的潜在有害人类影响。该项目将使用卫星图像和光谱技术来确定和绘制微生物垫群落，并将其特性和分布与实地测量和实验室测量联系起来。这项研究提供了一个令人振奋的新工具，以帮助记录和了解南极生态系统的一个主要组成部分在麦克默多干燥山谷的分布。该项目的目标是建立轨道光谱特征与南极泰勒山谷微生物垫群落的生理状态和生物地球化学性质之间的定量关系，这是通过对收集的样品进行野外和实验室分析所测量的。这一目标将通过以下方式实现：(1)使用现场辐射校正改进大气校正技术，以获得准确的表面光谱；(2)在现场采样和实地光谱测量的同时收集多光谱轨道图像，以确保时间可比性；(3)测量沉积物、水和微生物垫样品的有机和无机碳含量、必要的生物地球化学营养物质和叶绿素-a，以确定相关的光谱特征；以及(4)将这些实验室得出的特征与野外和轨道光谱特征和参数进行定量关联。这项工作的结果将是微生物垫群落的分布和它们的生物地球化学性质与景观规模的光谱特征之间的更强有力的定量联系。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Microbial mats are found throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys where summer snowmelt provides liquid water that allows these mats to flourish. Researchers have long studied the environmental conditions microbial mats need to grow. Despite these efforts, it has been difficult to develop a broad picture of these unique ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology now provide researchers an exciting new tool to study these special Antarctic ecosystems from space using the unique spectral signatures associated with microbial mats. This new technology not only offers the promise that microbial mats can be mapped and studied from space, this research will also help protect these delicate environments from potentially harmful human impacts that can occur when studying them from the ground. This project will use satellite imagery and spectroscopic techniques to identify and map microbial mat communities and relate their properties and distributions to both field and lab-based measurements. This research provides an exciting new tool to help document and understand the distribution of a major component of the Antarctic ecosystem in the McMurdo Dry Valleys.The goal of this project is to establish quantitative relationships between spectral signatures derived from orbit and the physiological status and biogeochemical properties of microbial mat communities in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, as measured by field and laboratory analyses on collected samples. The goal wioll be met by (1) refining atmospheric correction techniques using in situ radiometric rectification to derive accurate surface spectra; (2) collecting multispectral orbital images concurrent with in situ sampling and spectral measurements in the field to ensure temporal comparability; (3) measuring sediment, water, and microbial mat samples for organic and inorganic carbon content, essential biogeochemical nutrients, and chlorophyll-a to determine relevant mat characteristics; and (4) quantitatively associating these laboratory-derived characteristics with field-derived and orbital spectral signatures and parameters. The result of this work will be a more robust quantitative link between the distribution of microbial mat communities and their biogeochemical properties to landscape-scale spectral signatures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.