Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine

Antarctic Microbes Hold Clue to Earth's Oxygen

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
NASA Astrobiology Institute
January 21, 2016
Filed under
Antarctic Microbes Hold Clue to Earth's Oxygen
green microbial mat
TYLER MACKEY

At the bottom of an icy Antarctic lake, a thin, slimy layer of bright green microbes is generating a tiny oasis of oxygen that might give a picture of what early Earth looked like before oxygen became common in the atmosphere.

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻