Recently in the Field Reports Category

We made the first dives beneath the thick, perennial ice (3.6 m) of Lake Obersee yesterday.  

We have had pretty nice weather the last two days so we have taken advantage of it with a fair amount of work. Today we put up the tripod that will support the new met station I am deploying here at Lake Obersee.

The weather today was quite nice. While a bit windy, it was sunny all day which was a nice change of pace.

Today's weather is a major improvement over what we have seen the last two weeks while in Antarctica.

My research team and I are now camped on the shores of Lake Obersee, a few km NE of Lake Untersee in the mountains of Queen Maud Land.

For an astrobiologist, going into the field doesn't have to mean going to another planet. There's plenty to learn about life in the cosmos by studying what our planet has to offer. To help in this exploration, the Lewis and Clark Fund supports the field work of early career scientists.

When Dr. Eric Boyd of the NAI's Montana State University Team goes searching for evidence of what extra-terrestrial life might look like, he heads to Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. On Saturday the 24th of September Dr. Boyd was joined by the Webelos of Packs 524 and 552 of Livingston, Montana, with the goal of finding out what life might look like on another planet.

Dr. Boyd began the expedition by explaining some basic background on what Yellowstone is, how the Yellowstone area was formed, and some basic safety instructions on walking through a geothermal area as well as instructions on using the laser guns and pH strips he had brought for the Webolos. It was time to go 'Alien Hunting'.

The Scouts started their hunt at Echinus Geyser by first testing the temperature of the spring with their lasers. They were surprised to find that the temperature was between 156 and 166 degrees Fahrenheit; everybody agreed that it was way too hot for most life to survive. However the Scouts noted that the deep reds, oranges and faint greens associated with the spring seemed to indicate that life is present. At the outflow of the geyser the Scouts tested a sample of the spring water, sampled by Dr. Boyd, and found that it had a pH of between 3 and 4, a very acidic and extreme environment when compared to the boys drinking water which was pH 7.

The boys took their results to Dr. Boyd, who indicated that they were correct in believing that the spring was acidic, but that we should consider how life is thriving in such high temperature and acid conditions. Then Dr. Boyd shared with the boys why NASA scientists study geysers such at this: the iron-rich habitat at Echinus can be considered to be an Earth analog for what might be present on Mars since it is known that the red planet is rich in iron and has had hot springs in its distant past.
"The Boys learned how to look at a spring and based on visual observations, predict the pH and temperature of the spring as well as how the organisms were making a living. Such imaginative thinking is truly the cornerstone of NASA's astrobiology exploration program - in essence identifying patterns and using this to predict an outcome. Through iteration, such as what the Scouts experienced today in the Norris Geyser Basin, we refine our predictions and culminate in understanding" said Boyd. "The collective ideas that this group of youngsters generated about how life survives in extreme environments and the enthusiasm that the students had for NASA-supported science was impressive. I look forward to seeing how this group of young men progress through their Scout Program and their academic education."

The boys left the park with fond memories of red iron-eating bugs, black caldrons filled with mud, and pools of life that had found a way to survive in extreme environments. "What a wonderful opportunity Yellowstone National Park provides each of us to learn about the natural world that surrounds each and every one of us." said Boyd.

Source: NAI Newsletter

Interested in helping scientists pinpoint where to look for signs of life on Mars? Now you can, with an exciting new citizen science website called MAPPER (getmapper.com) that was launched in conjunction with the Pavilion Lake Research Project's 2011 field season.

The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP, pavilionlake.com), which is supported by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, has been investigating the underwater environment of Pavilion and Kelly Lake in British Columbia, Canada with DeepWorker submersible vehicles (Nuytco Ltd, nuytco.com) since 2008. Now with MAPPER, you can work side-by-side with NASA scientists to explore the bottom of these lakes from the perspective of a DeepWorker pilot.

The PLRP team makes use of DeepWorker subs to explore and document freshwater carbonate formations known as microbialites that thrive in Pavilion and Kelly Lake. Many scientists believe that a better understanding of how and where these rare microbialite formations develop will lead to deeper insights into where signs of life may be found on Mars and beyond. To investigate microbialite formation in detail, terabytes of video footage and photos of the lake bottom are recorded by PLRP's DeepWorker sub pilots. This data must be analyzed to determine what types of features can be found in different parts of the lake. Ultimately, detailed maps can be generated to help answer questions like "how does microbialite texture and size vary with depth?" and "why do microbialites grow in certain parts of the lake but not in others?". But before these questions can be answered, all the data must be analyzed.

The pool of candidates for the NAI/APS 2011 competition was the largest we have ever experienced. Typically six to seven selections are made annually, however for 2011 twelve young investigators were selected for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology.

Congratulations go to:

Liza Coe: Many people who have not been to Death Valley think of it as an inhospitable patch of sand in the middle of a desert. Although it is one of the driest areas on the planet, the land supports so much life.

Interdisciplinary studies are an important way to bring together many concepts. Much of education today is very segregated, especially in high school: history, math, biology, earth science, and everything else is learned separately. However, it has been demonstrated that interdisciplinary studies can grab and maintain students' interests as well as helping them retain knowledge longer.

All of the places that we visited today can be used as an interdisciplinary site. We started off at Scotty's Castle and along the ride we noticed many significant geological formations. The history of Scotty's Castle can be tied into the time period, with a lesson about the other economic and historical events that happened in the 1930s and 1940s. Also, along the ride, the types minerals that are abundant in the desert area can be discussed, and students can learn how to identify geological features, such as alluvial fans and fault lines.

We then headed to the Ubehebe craters, which are a great analog to formations to look for on Mars. These craters are Maar craters, where magma meets groundwater. The water table boils and released pressure in a volcanic eruption. The craters are what are left over after such eruptions. Many students may believe a crater is only from an asteroid or from a mountainous volcano, so this site affords an opportunity to learn about all sorts of volcanic features.We ended our long day at Badwater Basin, which is one of the lowest places in the world, at -282 feet. This used to be a sea, and this place could be used to talk about watersheds and how desertification occurs over time. We can incorporate math into this by looking at negative numbers, and students can compare the sea levels of the lowest places in the world. This was a very long but rewarding day as we got to take in all the beauty of Death Valley.