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B305: Collaborative Research: Biogeochemistry of cyanobacterial mats and hyporheic zone microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley glacial meltwater streams

Start date:
Instruments operate year-round.
Locations:
Miers Valley
Principle Investigator:
Edward Carpenter
Organisation:
San Francisco State University
State
California
Field season overview:
Researchers plan to conduct their research in early December, when melt-water streams are most active. Their focus will be on a stream in Miers Valley. They will be flown by helicopter from McMurdo Station to the research site where they will establish a field camp and remain for 14-15 days. They will erect a tented lab to initially process groundwater and other microbial samples. They also plan a stream diversion expirement.
Researchers will study the microbial ecology of the hyporheic (wetted) zone of dry-valley glacial melt-water streams. They will determine how carbon and nitrogen, fixed by cyanobacteria in microbial mats, affect bacterial activity, dissolved organic carbon, and dissolved organic nitrogen in these zones