USAP-DC

{"dp_type": "Project", "free_text": "RIVERS/STREAM"}

[{"awards": "1644187 Tulaczyk, Slawek", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161 -76.9,161.75 -76.9,162.5 -76.9,163.25 -76.9,164 -76.9,164.75 -76.9,165.5 -76.9,166.25 -76.9,167 -76.9,167.75 -76.9,168.5 -76.9,168.5 -77.04,168.5 -77.18,168.5 -77.32,168.5 -77.46,168.5 -77.6,168.5 -77.74,168.5 -77.88,168.5 -78.02,168.5 -78.16,168.5 -78.3,167.75 -78.3,167 -78.3,166.25 -78.3,165.5 -78.3,164.75 -78.3,164 -78.3,163.25 -78.3,162.5 -78.3,161.75 -78.3,161 -78.3,161 -78.16,161 -78.02,161 -77.88,161 -77.74,161 -77.6,161 -77.46,161 -77.32,161 -77.18,161 -77.04,161 -76.9))", "dataset_titles": "ANTAEM project airborne EM resistivity data from McMurdo Region", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601373", "doi": "10.15784/601373", "keywords": "Antarctica; Cryosphere; Dry Valleys; Hydrology; Ice Shelf; McMurdo; Permafrost", "people": "Tulaczyk, Slawek", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "ANTAEM project airborne EM resistivity data from McMurdo Region", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601373"}], "date_created": "Sun, 13 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "In Antarctica, millions of years of freezing have led to the development of hundreds of meters of thick permafrost (i.e., frozen ground). Recent research demonstrated that this slow freezing has trapped and concentrated water into local and regional briny aquifers, many times more salty than seawater. Because salt depresses the freezing point of water, these saline brines are able to persist as liquid water at temperatures well below the normal freezing point of freshwater. Such unusual groundwater systems may support microbial life, supply nutrients to coastal ocean and ice-covered lakes, and influence motion of glaciers. These briny aquifers also represent potential terrestrial analogs for deep life habitats on other planets, such as Mars, and provide a testing ground for the search for extraterrestrial water. Whereas much effort has been invested in understanding the physics, chemistry, and biology of surface and near-surface waters in cold polar regions, it has been comparably difficult to investigate deep subsurface aquifers in such settings. Airborne ElectroMagnetics (AEM) subsurface imaging provides an efficient way for mapping salty groundwater. An international collaboration with the University of Aarhus in Denmark will enable knowledge and skill transfer in AEM techniques that will enhance US polar research capabilities and provide US undergraduates and graduate students with unique training experiences. This project will survey over 1000 km2 of ocean and land near McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and will reveal if cold polar deserts hide a subsurface pool of liquid water. This will have significant implications for understanding cold polar glaciers, ice-covered lakes, frozen ground, and polar microbiology as well as for predictions of their response to future change. Improvements in permafrost mapping techniques and understanding of permafrost and of underlying groundwaters will benefit human use of high polar regions in the Antarctic and the Arctic.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe project will provide the first integrative system-scale overview of subsurface water distribution and hydrological connectivity in a partly ice-free coastal region of Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Liquid water is relatively scarce in this environment but plays an outsized role by influencing, and integrating, biological, biogeochemical, glaciological, and geological processes. Whereas surface hydrology and its role in ecosystem processes has been thoroughly studied over the last several decades, it has been difficult to map out and characterize subsurface water reservoirs and to understand their interactions with regional lakes, glaciers, and coastal waters. The proposed project builds on the \"proof-of-concept\" use of AEM technology in 2011. Improvements in sensor and data processing capabilities will result in about double the depth of penetration of the subsurface during the new data collection when compared to the 2011 proof-of-concept survey, which reached depths of 300-400m. The first field season will focus on collecting deep soundings with a ground-based system in key locations where: (i) independent constraints on subsurface structure exist from past drilling projects, and (ii) the 2011 resistivity dataset indicates the need for deeper penetration and high signal-to-noise ratios achievable only with a ground-based system. The regional airborne survey will take place during the second field season and will yield subsurface electrical resistivity data from across several valleys of different sizes and different ice cover fractions.", "east": 168.5, "geometry": "POINT(164.75 -77.6)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "FROZEN GROUND; HELICOPTER; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; GROUND WATER; RIVERS/STREAMS; Dry Valleys", "locations": "Dry Valleys", "north": -76.9, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Earth Sciences; Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Tulaczyk, Slawek; Mikucki, Jill", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e ROTORCRAFT/HELICOPTER \u003e HELICOPTER", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.3, "title": "Collaborative Research: Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Water in Coastal Antarctica", "uid": "p0010129", "west": 161.0}, {"awards": "1745053 Salvatore, Mark", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((162.92 -77.56,162.971 -77.56,163.022 -77.56,163.073 -77.56,163.124 -77.56,163.175 -77.56,163.226 -77.56,163.277 -77.56,163.328 -77.56,163.379 -77.56,163.43 -77.56,163.43 -77.571,163.43 -77.582,163.43 -77.593,163.43 -77.604,163.43 -77.615,163.43 -77.626,163.43 -77.637,163.43 -77.648,163.43 -77.659,163.43 -77.67,163.379 -77.67,163.328 -77.67,163.277 -77.67,163.226 -77.67,163.175 -77.67,163.124 -77.67,163.073 -77.67,163.022 -77.67,162.971 -77.67,162.92 -77.67,162.92 -77.659,162.92 -77.648,162.92 -77.637,162.92 -77.626,162.92 -77.615,162.92 -77.604,162.92 -77.593,162.92 -77.582,162.92 -77.571,162.92 -77.56))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 03 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "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.\r\n\r\nThe 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 will 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.\r\n\r\nThis award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 163.43, "geometry": "POINT(163.175 -77.615)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "RIVERS/STREAM; USAP-DC; AMD/US; Antarctica; FIELD INVESTIGATION", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.56, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Salvatore, Mark", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -77.67, "title": "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Remote Characterization of Microbial Mats in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, through In Situ Sampling and Spectral Validation", "uid": "p0010036", "west": 162.92}, {"awards": "1637708 Gooseff, Michael", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((160 -77.25,160.5 -77.25,161 -77.25,161.5 -77.25,162 -77.25,162.5 -77.25,163 -77.25,163.5 -77.25,164 -77.25,164.5 -77.25,165 -77.25,165 -77.375,165 -77.5,165 -77.625,165 -77.75,165 -77.875,165 -78,165 -78.125,165 -78.25,165 -78.375,165 -78.5,164.5 -78.5,164 -78.5,163.5 -78.5,163 -78.5,162.5 -78.5,162 -78.5,161.5 -78.5,161 -78.5,160.5 -78.5,160 -78.5,160 -78.375,160 -78.25,160 -78.125,160 -78,160 -77.875,160 -77.75,160 -77.625,160 -77.5,160 -77.375,160 -77.25))", "dataset_titles": "EDI Data Portal: McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER; McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Data Repository", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "200037", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "Environmental Data Initiative", "science_program": null, "title": "EDI Data Portal: McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER", "url": "https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/browseServlet?searchValue=MCM"}, {"dataset_uid": "200036", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Data Repository", "science_program": null, "title": "McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Data Repository", "url": "http://mcm.lternet.edu/power-search/data-set"}], "date_created": "Fri, 31 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, are a mosaic of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in a cold desert. The McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project has been observing these ecosystems since 1993 and this award will support key long-term measurements, manipulation experiments, synthesis, and modeling to test current theories on ecosystem structure and function. Data collection is focused on meteorology and physical and biological dimensions of soils, streams, lakes, glaciers, and permafrost. The long-term measurements show that biological communities have adapted to the seasonally cold, dark, and arid conditions that prevail for all but a short period in the austral summer. Physical (climate and geological) drivers impart a dynamic connectivity among portions of the Dry Valley landscape over seasonal to millennial time scales. For instance, lakes and soils have been connected through cycles of lake-level rise and fall over the past 20,000 years while streams connect glaciers to lakes over seasonal time scales. Overlaid upon this physical system are biotic communities that are structured by the environment and by the movement of individual organisms within and between the glaciers, streams, lakes, and soils. The new work to be conducted at the McMurdo LTER site will explore how the layers of connectivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys influence ecosystem structure and function. \r\n\r\nThis project will test the hypothesis that increased ecological connectivity following enhanced melt conditions within the McMurdo Dry Valleys ecosystem will amplify exchange of biota, energy, and matter, homogenizing ecosystem structure and functioning. This hypothesis will be tested with new and continuing experiments that examine: 1) how climate variation alters connectivity among landscape units, and 2) how biota are connected across a heterogeneous landscape using state-of-the-science tools and methods including automated sensor networks, analysis of seasonal satellite imagery, biogeochemical analyses, and next-generation sequencing. McMurdo LTER education programs and outreach activities will be continued, and expanded with new programs associated with the 200th anniversary of the first recorded sightings of Antarctica. These activities will advance societal understanding of how polar ecosystems respond to change. McMurdo LTER will continue its mission of training and mentoring students, postdocs, and early career scientists as the next generation of leaders in polar ecosystem science, and lead the development of international environmental stewardship protocols for human activities in the region.", "east": 165.0, "geometry": "POINT(162.5 -77.875)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS; NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; RIVERS/STREAM; USAP-DC; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; LAKE/POND; Polar", "locations": "Antarctica; Polar", "north": -77.25, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Integrated System Science", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Gooseff, Michael N.; Takacs-Vesbach, Cristina; Howkins, Adrian; McKnight, Diane; Doran, Peter; Adams, Byron; Barrett, John; Morgan-Kiss, Rachael; Priscu, John", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "Environmental Data Initiative", "repositories": "Other", "science_programs": "LTER", "south": -78.5, "title": "LTER: Ecosystem Response to Amplified Landscape Connectivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica", "uid": "p0010031", "west": 160.0}, {"awards": "1246292 Cary, Stephen", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((161.36062 -77.20215,161.610171 -77.20215,161.859722 -77.20215,162.109273 -77.20215,162.358824 -77.20215,162.608375 -77.20215,162.857926 -77.20215,163.107477 -77.20215,163.357028 -77.20215,163.606579 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.20215,163.85613 -77.291278,163.85613 -77.380406,163.85613 -77.469534,163.85613 -77.558662,163.85613 -77.64779,163.85613 -77.736918,163.85613 -77.826046,163.85613 -77.915174,163.85613 -78.004302,163.85613 -78.09343,163.606579 -78.09343,163.357028 -78.09343,163.107477 -78.09343,162.857926 -78.09343,162.608375 -78.09343,162.358824 -78.09343,162.109273 -78.09343,161.859722 -78.09343,161.610171 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.09343,161.36062 -78.004302,161.36062 -77.915174,161.36062 -77.826046,161.36062 -77.736918,161.36062 -77.64779,161.36062 -77.558662,161.36062 -77.469534,161.36062 -77.380406,161.36062 -77.291278,161.36062 -77.20215))", "dataset_titles": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities; Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils; Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ; Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient; Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "002738", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/protein/?term=craig%20cary"}, {"dataset_uid": "002736", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial Antarctic moisture gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB27415"}, {"dataset_uid": "200014", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "EMBL", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial population dynamics along a terrestrial wetted gradient", "url": "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB7939"}, {"dataset_uid": "200013", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys ", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/?term=PRJNA505820"}, {"dataset_uid": "002737", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "KNB", "science_program": null, "title": "Carbon-fixation rates and associated microbial communities residing in arid and ephemerally wet Antarctic Dry Valley soils", "url": "https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/knb.756.1"}, {"dataset_uid": "200015", "doi": "", "keywords": null, "people": null, "repository": "NCBI GenBank", "science_program": null, "title": "Microbial community composition of transiently wetted Antarctic Dry Valley soils.", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/popset/?term=KP836071%20to%20KP836108"}], "date_created": "Wed, 14 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are recognized as being the driest, coldest and probably one of the harshest environments on Earth. In addition to the lack of water, the biota in the valleys face a very limited supply of nutrients such as nitrogen compounds - necessary for protein synthesis. The glacial streams of the Dry Valleys have extensive cyanobacterial (blue green algae) mats that are a major source of carbon and nitrogen compounds to biota in this region. While cyanobacteria in streams are important as a source of these compounds, other non-photosynthetic bacteria also contribute a significant fraction (~50%) of fixed nitrogen compounds to valley biota. This research effort will involve an examination of exactly which non-phototrophic bacteria are involved in nitrogen fixation and what environmental factors are responsible for controlling nitrogen fixation by these microbes. This work will resolve the environmental factors that control the activity, abundance and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbes across four of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. This will allow for comparisons among sites of differing latitude, temperature, elevation and exposure to water. These results will be integrated into a landscape wetness model that will help determine the impact of both cyanobacterial and non-photosynthetic nitrogen fixing microorganisms in this very harsh environment.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003cbr/\u003eThe Dry Valleys in many ways resemble the Martian environment, and understanding the primitive life and very simple nutrient cycling in the Dry Valleys has relevance for understanding how life might have once existed on other planets. Furthermore, the study of microbes from extreme environments has resulted in numerous biotechnological applications such as the polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA and mechanisms for freeze resistance in agricultural crops. Thus, this research should yield insights into how biota survive in extreme environments, and these insights could lead to other commercial applications.", "east": 163.85613, "geometry": "POINT(162.608375 -77.64779)", "instruments": "NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "NOT APPLICABLE; Antarctica; USAP-DC; RIVERS/STREAM", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -77.20215, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Cary, Stephen", "platforms": "OTHER \u003e NOT APPLICABLE \u003e NOT APPLICABLE", "repo": "NCBI GenBank", "repositories": "Other", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.09343, "title": "Collaborative Research: Importance of Heterotrophic and Phototrophic N2 Fixation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys on Local, Regional and Landscape Scales", "uid": "p0000235", "west": 161.36062}]

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