DELVE: Development and validation of first generation chemical sensors for icy ecosystems

冰川和冰盖是地球表面被探索最少的部分之一，尽管环境条件具有挑战性（如极端寒冷、干燥、冰原下的冻结和高压），但现在已知它们蕴藏着大量微生物。这些微生物中的许多加速了化学风化，并为下游生态系统提供营养。人们普遍认为，更好地了解这些过程对于以下方面的理解非常重要：1)冰川/冰盖对碳和营养物质循环的全球影响；2)极端环境（如南极冰下湖）中的生物多样性和生命；3)从融水化学推断的冰盖下水流。目前，冰川学家可用于推进这些领域知识的工具包非常有限，要充分参与未来的科学运动，需要技术上的飞跃。在先前工作的基础上，该提案旨在开发用于冰川和冰盖的第一代紧凑型化学传感器。虽然对这项技术在海洋中的应用进行了评估，但尚未对其在冰冷环境中的应用进行评估或修改。我们将采用该技术并评估其在冰冻条件下（例如低温、冻结/解冻、高压和冰川融水样品类型）的性能。随后将进行设计更改和进一步测试，最终在挪威北极的斯瓦尔巴群岛进行原型仪器的最终演示。这些发展将为未来的冰川科学提供关键和限速技术，并将应用于冰下湖泊勘探（如南极洲埃尔斯沃思冰下湖）、海洋冰下作业（如Autosub冰下作业）以及需要现场测量的广泛的冰生态系统。这项工作是高影响力国际科学运动的先驱，这些运动需要开发采用综合化学传感器阵列的专用测量系统（例如，埃尔斯沃思湖勘探计划，“拉特福德冰流的基础条件：床通道，监测和冰盖历史”（BEAMISH）和美国资助的WISSARD计划，我们与之有着密切的联系）。它还与淡水环境的水质监测密切相关，这将通过与英国环境署的合作进行探索。

Glaciers and ice sheets are one of the least explored parts of the Earth's surface, and are now known to harbor significant populations of micro-organisms despite the challenging environmental conditions (e.g. extreme cold, desiccation, freezing and high pressure under ice sheets). Many of these microbes accelerate chemical weathering and supply nutrients to downstream ecosystems. A better knowledge of these processes is widely recognized as important for understanding: 1) global impacts of glaciers/ice sheets on the cycling of carbon and nutrients 2) biodiversity and life in extreme environments (e.g. Antarctic Subglacial Lakes) and 3) water flow beneath ice sheets as inferred from meltwater chemistry. Currently, the toolkits available to glaciologists to advance knowledge in these areas are very limited, and a technological leap is required to engage fully in future science campaigns. Building on previous work, this proposal aims to develop the first generation of compact chemical sensors for use in glaciers and ice sheets. While much of this technology has been evaluated for use in the oceans, it has not been assessed or modified for application in icy environments. We will take this technology and evaluate its performance under icy conditions (e.g. at low temperature, under freeze/thaw, at high pressure and with glacial meltwater sample types). This will be followed by design changes and further testing, culminating in a final demonstration of prototype instruments in Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic. These developments will provide key and rate limiting technology for future glacial science, and will have application in subglacial lake exploration (e.g. Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, Antarctica), in marine under-ice operations (e.g. Autosub under ice), and across a wide range of icy ecosystems where in situ measurements are desirable. This work is a forerunner to high impact international science campaigns requiring the development of purpose-built measuring systems that employ a comprehensive array of chemical sensor (e.g. the Lake Ellsworth Exploration Programme, the 'Basal Conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: Bed Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History' (BEAMISH) and the US-funded WISSARD programme, with which we have strong links). It also has strong relevance to water quality monitoring in freshwater environments, which will be explored via collaboration with the Environment Agency, UK.