SALSA: An Integrated Program Focusing on Carbon Transformations in Mercer Subglacial Lake located 1100 m beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Abstract
The Antarctic subglacial environment remains one of the least explored regions of Earth's biosphere and information about its nature is transforming the way we view the continent. Interdisciplinary research on subglacial environments can reveal the role that subglacial water and wet sediments play in ice stream dynamics and mass balance, yield novel climatic information contained in lake sediments and the overlying ice sheet, and produce new information on the distribution and functioning of biological, chemical, and physical systems on our planet. The Subglacial Antarctic Lake Scientific Access (SALSA) program used a clean access, hot water drill to penetrate ~1100 m of glacial ice in December 2018 to sample the water column and sediments of Mercer Subglacial Lake (MSL). Data and images obtained from the overlying ice sheet, the water column, and the sediments addressed the overarching hypothesis that subglacial hydrology and relict deposits of marine organic carbon regulate microbial ecosystem processes in these active subglacial environments. This hypothesis was tested through an integrated study of subglacial hydrology, the character of water column and sedimentary organic carbon, geobiological rate processes, and genomic data. MSL is fed by water derived from both West and East Antarctica and drains into the Ross Ice Shelf marine cavity. Data from MSL yields unique information on the history of the Whillans and Mercer ice streams and the first data on subglacial chemical and biological conditions from East Antarctica. Our research provides transformative data on subglacial lakes on Earth and addresses key questions directly relevant to the stability of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet, the subglacial hydrological system, and the deep-cold subglacial biosphere. We will present an overview of the logistical effort required to access SLM, the scientific goals, and initial results addressing these goals. Results from this research can be used to formulate testable hypothesis for the eventual exploration of Ocean Worlds in the outer Solar System.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P53B..03P
- Keywords:
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- 0726 Ice sheets;
- CRYOSPHERE;
- 6207 Comparative planetology;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6221 Europa;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6282 Enceladus;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS