Antarctica’s Lake Untersee and Global Warming
During November and December the Tawani Foundation 2008 Antarctic International Expedition conducted a geomicrobiological exploration of Schirmacher Oasis and Lake Untersee. The oasis and lake are superb sites to (1) test laser induced fluorescence emission (L.I.F.E.) to be used for the exploration of the Mars regolith and poles, (2) monitor adaptive genetic responses to global climate change, and (3) evaluate methods for detecting hydrocarbon contamination and subsequent bioremediation in a fragile, endangered ecosystem.
The Dry Valleys of Antarctica and the continent’s ice-covered lakes have long served the scientific community as analog environments for putative ecosystems on Mars and Europa, respectively. One such dry valley is the Schirmacher Oasis of central Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. The Oasis is 3 km wide, 20 km long and contains over 180 lakes. Several of the lakes are perennially ice-covered while others melt by mid-summer. The Russian Antarctic Station of Novolazarevskaya (70°46'04” S and 11°49'54” E) and the Indian Station Maitri (70°45'57"S, 11°44'09"E) are located in the Oasis. These dry valleys experience a very short, cold growing season and minimal preciptation, yet they harbor a wide variety of endolithic organisms capable of surviving several of the challenges that would be experienced by microbial communities on Mars including a paucity of nutrients, minimal water, long frozen winters, and extremely short growing seasons.
Lake Untersee, the largest freshwater lake in the interior of East Antarctica, lies ninety kilometers southwest of the Oasis. The lake is in a permanently ice-covered region with minimal usable soil similar in many ways to the polar regions of Mars. Besides its setting being a reasonable analog for the icey moons of the outer planets and a Mars polar analog, the lake can help us understand the origin, adaptation, and evolution of life on Earth. Cyclical shifts in temperature, total solar flux, and ultraviolet (UV) exposure have been part of the geobiological history of our planet since the Archean. The cycles demand that microbial communities in constrained glacial melt lakes must adapt to relatively rapid changes in a variety of environmental variables that may include pH, temperature, physical maceration, and hydration/desiccation.
A series of geological, microbiological, and paleontological experiments have been performed at both sites by an interdisciplinary international team of ten scientists and two teachers during the Tawani Antarctic Expedition 2008.
As Kinohi Institute representative Dr. Storrie-Lombardi servesdas Expedition physician and diving medical officer. In collaboration with colleagues at the J. Craig Venter Institute (Drs. Shannon Williamson, Yuri Gorby, Greg Wanger, Andrew Allen, and Kenneth Nealson) and expedition colleagues Drs. Birgit Sattler (Innsbrook), Vladimir Akimov (Moscow), Asim Bej (University of Alabama, Birmingham), Richard Hoover (NSSTC) he will conduct a series of experiments at Lake Untersee to
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(1)document the metagenomes of eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and viruses inhabiting the lake;
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(2)search for evidence of virus-mediated horizontal gene transfer providing adaptive metabolic or cold protective phenotype alterations Abs_Cyanophage_2007.pdf ;
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(3)identify microbial nanowire connections between multiple species at the ice-water interface, in the water column, and in the sediment;
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(4)produce in situ biomass estimates of life in the lake ice during the early spring growing season using laser induced fluorescence emission (L.I.F.E.) imaging techniques. Lake ice biomass changes are the result of growth of cyanobacteria-dominated miniature cryoconite communities at the ice-water interface. The predominant signal from blooms in the lake detected by orbital cameras should be from growth of organisms attached to the undersurface of the translucent ice cap.
Laser life detection experiments during the expedition have generated a series of publications during the past year including:
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C., Sattler, B., Muller, J.-P., Fisk, M.R., Cousins, C. and Dartnell, L.R. (2009) Laser induced fluorescence imaging: Searching for organics from the dry valleys of Queen Maud Land Antarctica to the regolith and ices of Mars. Geophys. Res. Abs. 11: EGU2009-0.
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C., Sattler, B. and Mortvedt, A. (2009) Laser-Induced Fluorescence Emission (L.I.F.E.): In Situ and Remote Detection of Life in in Antarctic and Alaskan Ice. Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XII (R.B. Hoover, G.V. Levin, & A.Y. Rozanov, Eds.) Proc. SPIE 7741B(8): 1-8.
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. and Sattler, B. (2009) Laser-induced fluorescence emission (L.I.F.E.): Laser illuminates life in ice. SPIE Newsroom: http://spie.org/x36131.xml?highlight=x2418&ArticleID=x36131.
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. and Sattler, B. (2009) Laser induced fluorescence emission (L.I.F.E.): Detection of microbial life in the Ice covers of Antarctic lakes. Astrobiology 9(7): 659-672.
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C., Muller, J.-P., Fisk, M.R., Cousins, C., Sattler, B., Griffiths, A.D. and Coates, A.J. (2009) Laser induced fluorescence emission (L.I.F.E.): searching for Mars organics with a UV-Enhanced PanCam. Astrobiology 9(10): 953-964.
Gerakines, P.A. and Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. (2009) Sources of organic matter for the Archean cryosphere. In Polar Microbiology: The Ecology, Biodiversity and Bioremediation Potential of Microorganisms in Extremely Cold Environments. A. K. Bej, J. Aislabie and R. M. Atlas. London, Taylor and Francis: 201-214.
Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. and Williamson, S. (2009) Possible role of bacteriophage-mediated horizontal gene transfer on microbial adaptation to environmnetal stressors in polar ecosystems. In Polar Microbiology: The Ecology, Biodiversity and Bioremediation Potential of Microorganisms in Extremely Cold Environments. A. K. Bej, J. Aislabie and R. M. Atlas. London, Taylor and Francis: 179-200.
Sattler, B. and Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. (2009) L.I.F.E. in Antarctic lakes. In Polar Microbiology: The Ecology, Biodiversity and Bioremediation Potential of Microorganisms in Extremely Cold Environments. A. K. Bej, J. Aislabie and R. M. Atlas. London, Taylor and Francis: 95-114.
Dr. Sattler is currently the lead scientific advisor for a flight to the North Pole by Tawani 2008 expedition member A. Mordvedt.
Experiments at the home institutions of team members generated from samples obtained during a brief reconnaissance mission in February 2008 have already generated preliminary data:
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(1)Hoover, R. B., Pikuta, E. V., Townsend, A., Anthony, J., Guisler, M., McDaniel, J., Bej, A. & Storrie-Lombardi, M. C. (2008) Microbial extremophiles from the 2008 Schirmacher Oasis Expedition: preliminary results. Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XI, (eds. R. B. Hoover; G. V. Levin; A. Y. Rozanov; P. C. Davies) 7097, L1-12, DOI: 10.1117/12.801018.
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(2)Storrie-Lombardi, M. C., Muller, J.-P., Fisk, M. R., Griffiths, A. D., Coates, A. J. & Hoover, R. B. (2008) in Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XI (eds. Hoover, R. B., Levin, G. V. & Rozanov, A. Y.) 7097 (25): P1-10, DOI: 10.1117/12.800924. abs_SPIE2008_UV_Untersee.pdf
Expedition members have devoted significant amounts of time to educational efforts for levels K-12, University, and the general public. These efforts are being led by Dr. Birgit Sattler (Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Austria, and Sparkling Science), Dr. Alicia Anzaldo (City Colleges of Chicago), and Ms. Sindy Main (Freeport Junior High School).
Additional References
Storrie-Lombardi, M. C., J.-P. Muller, M. R. Fisk, A. D. Griffiths, and A. J. Coates (2008), Potential for non-destructive astrochemistry using the ExoMars PanCam, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L12201, doi 10.1029/2008GL034296.
Storrie-Lombardi, M. C. and Pinkart, H. C. and (2007) Co-evolution of cyanophage and cyanobacteria in Antarctic lakes: Adaptive responses to high UV flux and global warming. Astrobiology and Planetary Missions X. eds/ R. B. Hoover, G. V. Levin and A. Y. Rozanov. 6694 (54), 1-13. Abs_Cyanophage_2007.pdf
Pinkart, H. C. and Storrie-Lombardi, M. C (2007) Diversity, evolution, and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in soda lakes. Astrobiology and Planetary Missions X. eds. R. B. Hoover, G. V. Levin and A. Y. Rozanov. 6694 (34), 1-11. Abs_Diversity_2007.pdf
Mormile, M. R. and Storrie-Lombardi, M.C. The use of ultraviolet excitation of native fluorescence for identifying biomarkers in halite crystals. Astrobiology and Planetary Missions VIII (R. B. Hoover, G. V. Levin, A. Y. Rozanov and G. R. Gladstone, Eds.) Proc. SPIE 5906: 246-253, 2005. Abs_Halides_2004.pdf
