{"response":{"award":[{"abstractText":"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.\r\n\r\nThe 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.","activeAwd":"false","agency":"NSF","awardAgencyCode":"4900","awardee":"UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE","awardeeAddress":"201 ANDY HOLT TOWER","awardeeCity":"KNOXVILLE","awardeeCountryCode":"US","awardeeDistrict":"02","awardeeDistrictCode":"TN02","awardeeName":"University of Tennessee Knoxville","awardeePhone":"8659743466","awardeeStateCode":"TN","awardeeZipCode":"379960001","cfdaNumber":"47.078","date":"08/30/2017","dirAbbr":"GEO","divAbbr":"OPP","estimatedTotalAmt":"119416","expDate":"08/31/2023","fundAgencyCode":"4900","fundProgramName":"ANT Integrated System Science, ANT Earth Sciences","fundsObligated":["FY 2017 = $119,416.00","FY 2022 = $23,503.00"],"fundsObligatedAmt":"142919","histAwd":"false","id":"1643687","initAmendmentDate":"08/30/2017","jrnl":[{"artTitl":"Draft Genome Sequence of Shewanella sp. Strain BF02_Schw, Isolated from Blood Falls, a Feature Where Subglacial Brine Discharges to the Surface of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica","auth":"Boles, Bruce W. and Murdoch, Robert W. and Ohlsson, Ingemar and Mikucki, Jill A.","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.01141-20","jrnlTitl":"Microbiology Resource Announcements","jrnlVol":"10","jrnlYr":"2021","parPblcId":"10282775"},{"artTitl":"Brief communication: The hidden labyrinth: deep groundwater in Wright Valley, Antarctica","auth":"Dugan, Hilary A. and Doran, Peter T. and Grombacher, Denys and Auken, Esben and Bording, Thue and Foged, Nikolaj and Foley, Neil and Mikucki, Jill and Virginia, Ross A. and Tulaczyk, Slawek","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4977-2022","jrnlTitl":"The Cryosphere","jrnlVol":"16","jrnlYr":"2022","parPblcId":"10386245"},{"artTitl":"Evidence for Pathways of Concentrated Submarine Groundwater Discharge in East Antarctica from Helicopter-Borne Electrical Resistivity Measurements","auth":"Foley, Neil and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Grombacher, Denys and Doran, Peter T. and Mikucki, Jill and Myers, Krista F. and Foged, Nikolaj and Dugan, Hilary and Auken, Esben and Virginia, Ross","dgtlObjId":"10.3390/hydrology6020054","jrnlTitl":"Hydrology","jrnlVol":"6","jrnlYr":"2019","parPblcId":"10110224"},{"artTitl":"Induced polarization effects in airborne transient electromagnetic data collected in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica","auth":"Grombacher, Denys and Auken, Esben and Foged, Nikolaj and Bording, Thue and Foley, Neil and Doran, Peter T and Mikucki, Jill and Dugan, Hilary A and Garza-Giron, Ricardo and Myers, Krista and Virginia, Ross A and Tulaczyk, Slawek","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggab148","jrnlTitl":"Geophysical Journal International","jrnlVol":"226","jrnlYr":"2021","parPblcId":"10293052"},{"artTitl":"Publisher Correction: Subglacial lakes and their changing role in a warming climate","auth":"Livingstone, Stephen J. and Li, Yan and Rutishauser, Anja and Sanderson, Rebecca J. and Winter, Kate and Mikucki, Jill A. and Björnsson, Helgi and Bowling, Jade S. and Chu, Winnie and Dow, Christine F. and Fricker, Helen A. and McMillan, Malcolm and Ng, F","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00262-3","jrnlTitl":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","jrnlVol":"3","jrnlYr":"2022","parPblcId":"10347287"},{"artTitl":"Comparison of ground-based and airborne transient electromagnetic methods for mapping glacial and permafrost environments: Cases from McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica","auth":"Madsen, Line M. and Bording, Thue and Grombacher, Denys and Foged, Nikolaj and Foley, Neil and Dugan, Hilary A. and Doran, Peter T. and Mikucki, Jill and Tulaczyk, Slawek and Auken, Esben","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2022.103578","jrnlTitl":"Cold Regions Science and Technology","jrnlVol":"199","jrnlYr":"2022","parPblcId":"10347286"},{"artTitl":"Genomic and phenotypic characterization of a red-pigmented strain of Massilia frigida isolated from an Antarctic microbial mat","auth":"Shaffer, Jacob M. and Giddings, Lesley-Ann and Samples, Robert M. and Mikucki, Jill A.","authIndCode":"N","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1156033","jrnlTitl":"Frontiers in Microbiology","jrnlVol":"14","jrnlYr":"2023","parPblcId":"10428159"},{"artTitl":"A Multi-Technique Analysis of Surface Materials From Blood Falls, Antarctica","auth":"Sklute, Elizabeth C. and Mikucki, Jill A. and Dyar, M. Darby and Lee, Peter A. and Livi, Ken J. and Mitchell, Sarina","dgtlObjId":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.843174","jrnlTitl":"Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences","jrnlVol":"9","jrnlYr":"2022","parPblcId":"10347293"}],"latestAmendmentDate":"06/24/2022","managingPec":"511200","orgCodeDir":"06000000","orgCodeDiv":"06090000","orgLongName":"Directorate for Geosciences","orgLongName2":"Office of Polar Programs (OPP)","orgUrl":"https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=OPP","parentUeiNumber":"RZ1YV5AUBN39","pdPIName":"Jill A Mikucki","perfAddress":"","perfCity":"","perfCountryCode":"US","perfDistrict":"02","perfDistrictCode":"TN02","perfLocation":"University of Tennessee Knoxville","perfStateCode":"TN","perfZipCode":"379960003","pi":["Jill A Mikucki jmikucki@utk.edu"],"piEmail":"jmikucki@utk.edu","piFirstName":"Jill","piId":"269766148","piLastName":"Mikucki","piMiddeInitial":"A","poEmail":"","poName":"Michael E. Jackson","poPhone":"","primaryProgram":["0100CYXXDB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT","0100XXXXDB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT"],"progEleCode":"529200, 511200","program":"USGCRP","progRefCode":"5294","projectOutComesReport":"
\n

The Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Water in Coastal Antarctica Project used a helicopter-borne sensor to map the presence of subsurface water in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. This region is one of the coldest, driest deserts on our planet. While the surface hydrology of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and its role in ecosystem processes has been thoroughly studied over the last several decades, characterizing the subsurface water reservoirs and their interactions with regional lakes, glaciers, and coastal waters has been more elusive. The instrumentation employed by the ANTAEM project enabled the mapping of extensive areas of terrain, via helicopter, while minimizing environmental disturbance.  The ANTAEM Team showed the existence of previously unknown aquifers beneath permafrost and glaciers in the dry valleys. In addition to the airborne survey portion of the ANTAEM project, we collected samples from two locales, known as Blood Falls and Don Juan Pond, where the mapped groundwater discharges to the surface.  These features provide a portal into these extensive subsurface reservoirs, enabling us to infer characteristics of these waters in the absence of direct sampling. The waters collected are some of the saltiest natural waters on our planet, they also contain high concentrations of biologically important nutrients, such as iron and silica. Both features are quite visceral; the brine that discharges at Blood Falls is rich in reduced iron that is oxidized at the surface, staining the Taylor Glacier red, while Don Juan Pond periodically evaporates, precipitating out a rare calcium chloride mineral known as Antarcticite. Any biota that thrives in these groundwater systems must persist under conditions of extreme salinity, low temperatures and dramatic geochemical changes from the subsurface to surface, challenging what were once considered the limits to life on Earth. Both Blood Falls and Don Juan Pond harbor distinct microbial communities.  Our work showed, for the first time, that microbial cells can be cultivated from Don Juan Pond sediments. The ability of these organisms to survive in these subsurface brines and their ecological role are currently under investigation.  Results from ANTAEM have significant implications for understanding polar glaciology, frozen ground dynamics, and extremophile microbiology as well as for predictions of their response to future change.  This project supported the research of undergraduate scholars, graduate students and post-doctoral scholars.  Findings from this research has been presented at numerous professional meetings and published widely in both the popular press and peer-reviewed science journals.  Our work was reported on in the Wall Street Journal, featured on the Weather Channel and was highlighted as part of a PBS NOVA special.

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\n Last Modified: 01/19/2024
\nModified by: Jill A Mikucki

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  • \n\"Mapping\n
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    Conducting resistivity surveys over the Fryxell Basin, Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Water in Coastal Antarctica Project.
    \n
    J. Mikucki
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    Copyrighted
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    Jill A Mikucki\n
    Mapping Fryxell Basin
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  • \n\"Collecting\n
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    Clean suits are worn to protect this environmentally sensitive site. Don Juan Pond is fed by a subsurface confined aquifer that was mapped as part of the Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Wat
    \n
    J. Mikucki
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    Copyrighted
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    Jill A Mikucki\n
    Collecting sediment samples from Don Juan Pond, Antarctica, November 2018.
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  • \n\"Blood\n
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    Blood Falls in the Taylor Valley is one of the few known sites were subsurface brine leaks to the surface.
    \n
    J. Mikucki
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    Copyrighted
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    Jill A Mikucki\n
    Blood Falls, November 2018
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  • \n\"ANTAEM\n
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    The transient electromagnetic sensor system (SkyTEM) departing the Marble Point Fueling station, Antarctica.
    \n
    J. Mikucki
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    Copyrighted
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    Jill A Mikucki\n
    ANTAEM sensor at Marble Point
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\n","publicAccessMandate":"1","publicationResearch":["Microbiology Resource Announcements~2021~10~Boles, Bruce W. and Murdoch, Robert W. and Ohlsson, Ingemar and Mikucki, Jill A.~https://doi.org/10.1128/MRA.01141-20~Draft Genome Sequence of Shewanella sp. Strain BF02_Schw, Isolated from Blood Falls, a Feature Where Subglacial Brine Discharges to the Surface of Taylor Glacier, Antarctica~10282775~10282775~OSTI~2021-08-02 01:03:35.53","The Cryosphere~2022~16~Dugan, Hilary A. and Doran, Peter T. and Grombacher, Denys and Auken, Esben and Bording, Thue and Foged, Nikolaj and Foley, Neil and Mikucki, Jill and Virginia, Ross A. and Tulaczyk, Slawek~https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-4977-2022~Brief communication: The hidden labyrinth: deep groundwater in Wright Valley, Antarctica~10386245~10386245~OSTI~2024-01-04 08:54:48.156","Hydrology~2019~6~Foley, Neil and Tulaczyk, Slawek M. and Grombacher, Denys and Doran, Peter T. and Mikucki, Jill and Myers, Krista F. and Foged, Nikolaj and Dugan, Hilary and Auken, Esben and Virginia, Ross~10.3390/hydrology6020054~Evidence for Pathways of Concentrated Submarine Groundwater Discharge in East Antarctica from Helicopter-Borne Electrical Resistivity Measurements~54~10110224~10110224~OSTI~2019-08-19 21:01:49.823","Geophysical Journal International~2021~226~Grombacher, Denys and Auken, Esben and Foged, Nikolaj and Bording, Thue and Foley, Neil and Doran, Peter T and Mikucki, Jill and Dugan, Hilary A and Garza-Giron, Ricardo and Myers, Krista and Virginia, Ross A and Tulaczyk, Slawek~https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggab148~Induced polarization effects in airborne transient electromagnetic data collected in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica~1574 to 1583~10293052~10293052~OSTI~2022-12-23 04:23:47.5","Nature Reviews Earth & Environment~2022~3~Livingstone, Stephen J. and Li, Yan and Rutishauser, Anja and Sanderson, Rebecca J. and Winter, Kate and Mikucki, Jill A. and Björnsson, Helgi and Bowling, Jade S. and Chu, Winnie and Dow, Christine F. and Fricker, Helen A. and McMillan, Malcolm and Ng, F~https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00262-3~Publisher Correction: Subglacial lakes and their changing role in a warming climate~156 to 156~10347287~10347287~OSTI~2022-08-07 17:03:16.633","Cold Regions Science and Technology~2022~199~Madsen, Line M. and Bording, Thue and Grombacher, Denys and Foged, Nikolaj and Foley, Neil and Dugan, Hilary A. and Doran, Peter T. and Mikucki, Jill and Tulaczyk, Slawek and Auken, Esben~https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2022.103578~Comparison of ground-based and airborne transient electromagnetic methods for mapping glacial and permafrost environments: Cases from McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica~103578~10347286~10347286~OSTI~2023-01-02 22:03:13.263","Frontiers in Microbiology~2023~14~Shaffer, Jacob M. and Giddings, Lesley-Ann and Samples, Robert M. and Mikucki, Jill A.~https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1156033~Genomic and phenotypic characterization of a red-pigmented strain of Massilia frigida isolated from an Antarctic microbial mat~N~10428159~10428159~OSTI~2024-08-29 09:12:16.246","Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences~2022~9~Sklute, Elizabeth C. and Mikucki, Jill A. and Dyar, M. Darby and Lee, Peter A. and Livi, Ken J. and Mitchell, Sarina~https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.843174~A Multi-Technique Analysis of Surface Materials From Blood Falls, Antarctica~10347293~10347293~OSTI~2022-08-07 17:03:15.26"],"startDate":"09/01/2017","title":"Collaborative Research: Antarctic Airborne ElectroMagnetics (ANTAEM) - Revealing Subsurface Water in Coastal Antarctica","transType":"Standard Grant","ueiNumber":"FN2YCS2YAUW3"}],"metadata":{"offset":0,"rpp":25,"totalCount":1}}}