Determining the taxonomy and activity of both living and inactive microbial populations in sediments will provide insights to modern element cycling and past environmental conditions.

Aim: Explore microbial communities living beneath the surface in past extreme polar environments.

 

Key Questions

  • How does subsurface metabolic potential contribute to major and trace element cycling
    and carbon burial?
  • How do microbial communities respond to varying inputs in organic matter (i.e. open vs. ice-covered conditions, discharge from subglacial lakes) over time?
  • What is the structure of microbial food webs in the extreme subglacial and sub ice-shelf environment?
  • What past environmental conditions are indicated by inactive members of subsurface communities like cysts and spores?

 

Workshop Report: Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to +2 °C (SWAIS 2C)

The Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a Warming of 2 ∘C (SWAIS 2C) Project aims to understand past and current drivers and thresholds of WAIS dynamics.

Read the report