NSFGEO-NERC: Chemistry and biology under low flow hydrologic conditions beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet from naturally emerging subglacial water

地球的大气层逐渐风化了地球表面的岩石和矿物。这些风化过程在很长的时间尺度上控制着地球的气候，风化矿物的分解形成了对生命至关重要的营养物质。我们试图了解大型冰川对这些风化过程的影响及其对生命的影响。从格陵兰冰盖冲刷出来的化学风化产物之前曾在几个地点进行过采样和测量，但这些测量通常是在夏季冰川被融化的冰水冲刷时收集的。在这里，我们试图了解这些过程在冬季是如何变化的，并将在寒冷的月份对格陵兰冰川出口前形成的季节性冰进行采样。冰层的化学和微生物将反映冰川下的冬季条件，当时新鲜融化水的输入很少。这反过来将使我们不仅了解格陵兰冰盖下的冬季条件，而且允许我们推断到冰盖难以到达的内部部分，以及过去融水输入最少时的较冷条件。这些分析将使我们了解冰川在地球上的作用：目前，在过去的冰河时代条件下，以及在未来冰川消融的世界中。

The Earth's atmosphere gradually weathers the rocks and minerals on the Earth's surface. These weathering processes control the Earth's climate on long timescales, and the break down of weathered minerals forms nutrients that are essential for life. We seek to understand the effect of large glaciers on these weathering processes and their consequences for life. The chemical weathering products washing out of the Greenland Ice Sheet have been previously sampled and measured at several locations, but these measurements are usually collected in summer when the glacier is flush with water from melting ice. Here we seek to understand how these processes change over winter and will sample the seasonal ice that forms in front of Greenland's glacial outlets during the freezing months. The chemistry and microbiology of this ice will reflect the wintertime conditions under the glacier when input of fresh meltwater is minimal. This in turn will inform us not only about winter conditions under the Greenland Ice Sheet but allow us to extrapolate to the inaccessible interior portions of the ice sheet and to past colder conditions when meltwater input was minimal. These analyses will inform our understanding of the role of glaciers on earth: presently, under past ice age conditions, and in a future deglaciating world.