Exploring Earth's Extremes Life and Living in the Earths Extreme Environments

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Exploring Earth's ExtremesLife and Living in the
Earths Extreme Environments
Directorate for Engineering
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Exploring Earths ExtremesActivities in NSFs
Division of Ocean Sciences

• Science
• Infrastructure
• Technology Development

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Scientific Programs Exploring Earth's Ocean
Extremes

• LExEn Life in Extreme Environments
• RIDGE Ridge Interdisciplinary Global
  Experiments
• ODP Ocean Drilling
• Program
• Biocomplexity
• Time-Series Science

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LExEn Life in Extreme Environments1997-2003

• NSF-wide program (w/ NASA participation in
  1999-2000)
• Objectives
• - exploring the relationships between organisms
  and the environments within which they exist,
  with a strong emphasis upon those life-supporting
  environments that exist near the extremes of
  planetary conditions.
• - exploring planetary environments in our own
  solar system and beyond to help identify possible
  sites for life.
• 93 awards made for interdisciplinary,
  collaborative research spanning the period
  1997-2003 (for links to abstracts, go to
  http//www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/lexen/start.htm)
• Ocean Science Emphasis Deep Biosphere

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LExEn Accomplishments (Ocean Sciences)

• Augmenting research emphases articulated in RIDGE
  and the Ocean Drilling Program (one of the
  initial reasons for developing the LExEn Program)
  
• ? looking at the microbial life within the
  seafloor system, the modes of living and the
  characteristics of the environment that the
  organisms use to sustain life.
• Increasing numbers and diversity of scientists
  and adding a greater interdisciplinary emphasis
  to the study of life in mid-ocean ridge systems
  and elsewhere in the ocean sub-surface
• The deep-biosphere interest remains an emphasis
  in NSF / Ocean Sciences

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The RIDGE Program Ridge Interdisciplinary Global
Experiments

• Initiated in the early 1990s to promote
  interdisciplinary study, scientific
  communication, and outreach related to all
  aspects of the globe-encircling, mid-ocean ridge
  system
• Science encompasses
• the physics and chemistry of the deep mantle
• the volcanology and geology of ocean crust
• the chemistry and biology of hydrothermal vents
• the physics and chemistry of the resulting hydro-
• thermal plumes and surrounding waters and
• the unique, complex ecosystems sustained by
• hydrothermal activity and,
• perhaps, the origin of
• life itself.

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The RIDGE Program
RIDGE has provided the majority of research
support for thermophilic biology microbes and
megafauna

• Example The Pompeii worm (Alvinella pompejana)
  can survive an environment as hot as 80 C (176
  F) nearly hot enough to boil water. How the
  worm survives this heat remains a mystery.

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The RIDGE Program Ridge Interdisciplinary Global
Experiment

• Modes of Study
• Large Experiments (e.g., MELT and LARVE)
• Long-Time Series (e.g., 9 North on the EPR),
• Exploration (e.g., the recent Indian Ocean
  Expedition and the discovery of the Lost City on
  the MAR)
• RIDGE Program Ending in 2001 with initiation of
  the focused RIDGE-2000 Program

Indian Ocean vent site study area
Lost City chimney more than 30 feet in height.
Photo credit UW/WHOI
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The RIDGE 2000 Program Planetary Renewal and
Life in the Deep Ocean

• Built around two multi-disciplinary science
  themes Integrated Studies and Time-Dependent
  Studies
• Integrated Studies Cohesive, integrated
  experiments at a small number of selected sites,
  designed to fully characterize the fundamental
  units of the global ridge crest as integrated
  volcanic, tectonic and biological systems from
  the mantle to ocean."
• dynamics of the underlying mantle
• physiology of sub-seafloor microbe populations
• chemical exchange between seafloor hydrothermal
  systems and the ocean

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The RIDGE 2000 Program

• Integrated Studies
• How and to what extent does hydrothermal flux
  influence the physical, chemical, and biological
  characteristics of the overlying ocean?
• What is the nature and space/time extent of the
  biosphere from deep in the subsurface to the
  overlying water column?
• What are the forces and linkages that determine
  the structure and extent of the hydrothermal
  biosphere?
• How does biological activity affect vent
  chemistry and hydrothermal circulation?
• How does hydrothermal circulation impact melt
  composition, crustal structure and composition,
  and ridge morphology?
• How are melt and fluid transport organized within
  the mantle and crust?

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The RIDGE 2000 Program

• Time-Dependent Studies To understand the nature,
  frequency, distribution and geobiological impacts
  of magmatic and tectonic events along the global
  mid-ocean ridge system.
• Detection and location of eruptions in real time
• Spatial and temporal relationship of earthquakes
  to eruptions
• Relationship of water-column plumes to eruptions
  or intrusive events
• Rapid impacts on biological and geochemical
  attributes of the vent system
• colonization from zero age crusts and new
  hydrothermal systems
• biological and geochemical impacts of event
  plumes
• exploring the deep-biosphere within vent systems
• RIDGE 2000 Time Critical Studies will initially
  be limited to monitoring and rapid response
  efforts in the Northeast Pacific.

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ODP - The Ocean Drilling Program

• An international partnership of scientists and
  research institutions organized to explore the
  evolution and structure of Earth. Over 30 years
  as DSDP ODP
• Provides researchers around the world access to a
  vast repository of geological and environmental
  information recorded far below the ocean surface
  in seafloor sediments and rocks.
• The drill ship, JOIDES Resolution is the
  centerpiece of the Ocean Drilling Program. With
  this ship, ODP can drill cores -- long cylinders
  of sediment and rock -- in water depths up to 8.2
  kilometers. JOIDES has some of the finest
  shipboard laboratories, including a new
  microbiological lab.
• ODP has drilled in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian,
  and Arctic Oceans, including north of the Arctic
  and south of the Antarctic circles.

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ODP - The Ocean Drilling Program

• Science themes / highlights
• - Gas hydrates
• - Hydrothermal mineralization
• - Climate change
• - Sea-level change
• - Plate tectonics
• - Recent interest in the Biosphere deep within
  the Ocean Bottom
• The Next Generation in 2003
• the International Ocean Drilling Program
  - IODP

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International Ocean Drilling Program IODP

• A major emphasis for IODP will be addressing
  questions about the deep biosphere and
  evolution...
• - What is the extent of the Earths deep
  biosphere?
• - What is the character of the extreme life forms
  populating the deep crust and deep sediments?
• - What are the phylogenetic relationships of
  these organisms?
• - What are the energy sources for this life?
• - Are these deep microbes involved in the
  formation of mobile hydrocarbons?
• - What are the processes involved with the
  weathering of rock surfaces

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Biocomplexity in the Environment

• Agency-wide priority area designed to foster
  research and education on the complex
  inter-dependencies among the elements of specific
  environmental systems and interactions of
  different types of systems.
• All kinds of organismsfrom microbes to
  humansfall within the BE framework, as do
  environments that range from frozen polar regions
  and volcanic vents to temperate forests and
  agricultural lands as well as the neighborhoods
  and industries of urban centers.
• The key connector of Biocomplexity activities is
  complexitythe idea that research on the
  individual components of environmental systems
  provides only limited information about the
  behavior of the systems themselves.

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Biocomplexity Themes (2001,2002,2003) with
Relevance to Life in Extreme Environments

• Genome-Enabled Environmental Science and
  Engineering (GEN-EN) Encouraging the use of
  genetic information to understand ecosystem
  functioning and the adaptation of organisms to
  ecological roles
• Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles (CBC) Focusing on
  the interrelation of biological, geochemical,
  geological, and physical processes at all
  temporal and spatial scales, emphasizing linkages
  between cycles and the influence of biotic
  factors on those cycles
• Instrumentation Development for Environmental
  Activities (IDEA) Supporting the development of
  instrumentation and software that takes advantage
  of microelectronics, photonics, telemetry,
  robotics, sensing systems, modeling, data mining,
  and analysis techniques to bring recent advances
  to bear on the full spectrum of environmental
  biocomplexity questions.

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Biocomplexity Themes (2001,2002,2003) with
Relevance to Life in Extreme Environments(sample
projects)

• Genome-Enabled Environmental Science and
  Engineering (GEN-EN) 1.5M award to conduct a
  meta-genome analysis of an extreme microbial
  symbiosis (Alvinella)
• Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles (CBC)Extent and
  significance of deep biospheres and life in
  extreme environments, for example, investigation
  of biologically controlled or induced
  mineralization, the production of gas hydrates in
  polar and marine environments, molecular-scale
  geomicrobiology, and transport of microorganisms
  in the subsurface environment
• Instrumentation Development for Environmental
  Activities (IDEA) recommended proposal on smart
  sensors for in situ monitoring of hydrothermal
  vent systems

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Biocomplexity Instrumentation Development for
Environmental Activities (IDEA)

• New work on smart sensors for in situ monitoring
  of hydrothermal vent systems (2.5 million)
• Fiber optic surface plasma resonance for density
  and salinity of high temperature fluids
• Fiber optic coupled grating light reflectance
  spectrophotometer for mineral precipitates
• Fiber optic Ramanspectroscopic probes for organic
  molecules in fluids and the mineral and microbe
  distributions on vent walls
• Fiber optic excitation-emission matrix
  fluorometer for large biomolecules amino acids,
  proteins, DNA fragments.

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Time-Series Science

• Understanding of dynamic processes requires
  sustained time series observations
• In the deep biosphere, long time-series
  observations are needed to monitor the complex
  interplay between magmatic, tectonic,
  hydrothermal, and biological processes

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Infrastructure Support

• NSF provides support for infrastructure and
  technology necessary to access the ocean from the
  surface to deep in the seafloor.
• Research Fleet
• New capabilities on conventional surface vessels
  are fundamental
• Autonomous Instruments/Vehicles
• Autonomous Benthic Explorer
• Deep Submergence Capabilities
• National Deep Submergence Facility
• Major Upgrade of ROV capability
• Major support for manned submersible activities
• Observatories
• Pilot projects LEO-15, HUGO, H2O
• Ocean Drilling Program
• IODP Riser drilling capability post 2003

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Technology Development

• Autonomous Instruments/Vehicles Potential exists
  for use of these vehicles (e.g., ABE) in the deep
  biosphere

• Deep submergence capabilities An NSF-funded
  design study for an ALVIN replacement, with
  greater depth capabilities, will begin this
  summer
• Ocean Observations Despite advances, much of the
  technology needed to build an effective ocean
  observations system remains in development

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Technology Development
Plate Observatory Essential Elements
Ocean Observatories - Manned
Submersible Capabilities An NSF-funded design
study for the ALVIN replacement, with greater
depth capabilities, will begin this summer
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Potential Future InfrastructureOcean
Observatories Initiative

• In response to the need for sustained time-series
  measurements, in situ observatories will become
  increasingly important
• Ocean Observatories Initiative being developed by
  academic community
• plate-scale observatory
• relocatable buoyed observatory
• coastal observatories
• Some or all of these capabilities may be of
  interest to NASA