This week, the 3.5 members of B-235-M will be heading down to Antarctica to conduct two months of field work in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Stay tuned to this blog for updates as our work progresses, but I wanted to provide you all with a quick primer to our field season, our research, and our goals.
This project began in approximately 2015 when myself and colleagues Jeb Barrett (Virginia Tech) and Eric Sokol (University of Colorado Boulder at the time, currently at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)) identified a unique and interdisciplinary research project to propose to the National Science Foundation (NSF). As a geologist with remote sensing experience, I presented my efforts of automatically identifying and mapping geologic surface units from orbit at a science workshop. I also showed that these techniques were able to detect photosynthetic microbial mat communities that live in ephemeral stream channels throughout the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. This capability caught the interest of Jeb and Eric, two formally trained microbial biologists associated with the McMurdo Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) community, and the three of us began to brainstorm about how we can refine (and eventually use) these techniques. After a few unsuccessful attempts to propose conducting field work to validate our orbital capabilities, we brought in Lee Stanish, another microbial biologist from NEON with ample Antarctic research experience. Lee must have been our good luck charm (or, more likely, the piece of our puzzle that was needed in order to make our case), because after including her on the project, we were successfully funded and selected for Antarctic field work. Our project's goals are to make simultaneous orbital and field measurements to compare the observed spectral signatures to key biological indicators, including pigment abundance, mat distribution and patchiness, photosynthetic activity, etc. We will be collecting field samples, acquiring spectral measurements in the field, and coordinating all of these efforts with the Polar Geospatial Center, who will assist in the collection of orbital data using high-resolution satellite instruments. Because we're interested in a time-series of observations, we'll need to be down in Antarctica for the majority of the "active season" (when these communities are active due to glacial melting), which runs from early December through the end of January. Our field team consists of 3.5 team members: I will serve as the Principal Investigator and lead in the coordination of all measurements and analyses. NAU grad student Schuyler Borges will be leading the acquisition of field spectra. Lee Stanish will be leading the acquisition of biological samples at precisely defined field sites. Lastly, Virginia Tech grad student Sarah Power will be joining us in the field to assist with biological sampling and other sample collection and analytical efforts. Sarah will be splitting time between our project and the MCM LTER project, which is why we have 3.5 field members, but she will certainly be a valuable and integral component to our field party as we try to make precise and high-frequency measurements this season. Our team will be arriving in Christchurch, New Zealand, later this week to collect our gear and make final preparations for heading down to Antarctica. A few days later, barring no significant weather delays, our team will board a military plane for McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where we will undergo any necessary training, gear check-out, and other final preparations for our field campaign. Then, on or around December 4th, we'll board a helo for our field site at the Fryxell Camp in Taylor Valley, along the northern shore of Lake Fryxell. This will be our home for the next two months, and where we will be basing our daily sampling and field measurement campaigns. Stay tuned for more updates as the field season progresses. We'll be trying to update the blog as frequently as possible to let you know of any and all happenings during our field season, but bear with us if our ability to do so is sporadic. I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving! I'll catch you all next time when we're en route to Antarctica! In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Wright Valley, Antarctica, from a helo the last time I was in Antarctica in 2010. You're looking at Lake Vanda in the background with the meandering Onyx River (the longest river in Antarctica) in the foreground heading towards Lake Vanda. More photos to come, I promise!
2 Comments
1/31/2019 11:27:03 pm
I get it why a lot of people have been working really hard just to reach the peak of Antartica mountains. Despite the coldness and other factors that might be a hindrance for them to reach their goals, they keep on desiring to reach its peak. I am not a mountaineer, and that might be the reason why I don't have the same amount of desire that they have. Your team has proven a lot already! You guys have reached different peaks too, and I guess that's more than enough. But if you are confident that you can reach it then go ahead!
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2/27/2019 08:08:24 pm
When I initially remarked I tapped the - Notify me when new remarks are included checkbox and now each time a remark is included I get four messages with a similar remark. Is there any way you can expel me from that administration? Much appreciated!
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About the Author(S)The contributors to this blog are the students, faculty, and other researchers in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Northern Arizona University. If you have any suggestions, or would like to contribute to this blog, please email mark.salvatore@nau.edu for more information. Archives
January 2019
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