3 rd SCAR SALE meeting June 9, 2007

1. 3rd SCAR SALE meeting June 9, 2007 US National Research Council Report Presented by: Peter Doran University of Illinois at Chicago

2. National Academy of Science and National Research Council • The NAS was signed into being by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863, at the height of the Civil War. • Has been advising nation on issues of science since then • Most of the institution's science policy and technical work is conducted by its operating arm, the National Research Council

3. How we got here • NSF requested that the NRC conduct a study on the way forward in subglacial lake exploration • NRC and NSF jointly defined the study • Committee selection was made through careful assessment of balance and avoidance of conflict of interest • Committee selection was open to public comment

4. Committee Members John Hobbie (Chair) Marine Biological Lab, Woods Hole Amy Baker Technical Administrative Services Peter Doran University of Illinois at Chicago David Karl University of Hawaii Barbara Methé The Institute for Genomic Research Sam Mukasa University of Michigan Margaret Race SETI Institute Jim White University of Colorado International Members Garry Clarke The University of British Columbia Heinz Miller Alfred Wegner Institute Warwick Vincent Université Laval David Walton British Antarctic Survey

5. …How we got here • Four face-2-face meetings (including visitor presentations), lots of email, and one phone conference to produce report • Multiple reviewers (11) • Revisions • Final approval by NAS • Delivery to Sponsor (NSF)

6. Reviewers • Charlie Bentley, University of Wisconsin • Don Blankenship, U of Texas, Austin • Joyce Jatco, Navy Installations Command • Andrew Fountain, Portland State University • John Priscu, Montana State University • John Rummel, NASA Headquarters • Sergey Bulat, Russian Academy of Sciences • Martin Siegert, University of Edinburgh • Lonnie Thompson, The Ohio State University • Martyn Tranter, University of Bristol Although the reviewers above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the report’s conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release.

7. Statement of Task #1 • Define levels of “cleanliness” for equipment/devices entering subglacial lake environments • assure that the environments are subject to minimal, reversible, or acceptable change caused by the introduction of either naturally occurring earth surface materials and life forms or anthropogenic substances

8. Statement of Task #2 • Recommend next steps to define an overall exploration strategy: • Merits/disadvantages of existing technology - contamination • Highlight additional technological development needed • Procedures and additional studies to ensure • Best available environmentally and scientifically sound practices are adhered to • Contamination risks are reduced to acceptable levels during the entry and sampling of subglacial lake environments • Costs and benefits (science) of exploring now versus later • Potential targets among the many Antarctic lakes

9. Antarctic Subglacial Lakes • Now more than 145 lakes • Radio-echo sounding data • shallow, swamps? • Water-saturated soils • Subglacial Aquatic Environments • Comprise vast watersheds • Connected by rivers/streams

10. The Next Step • Not all questions can be answered by remote sensing or ice core data • Answer key questions – need samples of water, microbial communities, sediments and underlying bedrock • As of early 2007, no lake has been penetrated • NEXT CHALLENGE: determine best way of drilling into, sampling and monitoring these environments

11. The Next Step • Currently, no clear protocols or standards for minimizing contamination established • General environmental guidelines are provided in the Antarctic Treaty protocol • Critical to develop protocols now because plans for entry into these environments is already proceeding

12. Current Understanding of Subglacial Aquatic Environments • Indirect observations of Lake Vostok • Accretion ice • Geochemical models • Vostok Characteristics • Low salinity • High gas content? • Microorganisms • Controversial • Range (10K to few cells ml-1) • Low levels nutrients Conceptual representation of processes likely occurring in Lake Vostok. Russian Antarctic Program drilling has penetrated through the ice sheet and into ice refrozen from lake water. Drilling of an additional 75 m is planned for the summer Antarctic season 2007 / 2008. No details regarding exact ice flow directions or areas of ice accretion are intended. SOURCE: John C. Priscu.

13. Vast Hydrologic Systems • Heightens need for responsible environmental stewardship • If any single subglacial environment is altered (chemical or biological contaminants), connected environments might also be changed • Goal to minimize potential downstream contamination • Clear understanding of the subglacial hydrologic system is needed

14. Committee’s Research Approach • In light of potential adverse environmental consequences • Need a “conservative” approach • Until definitive data about absence of microbial populations, assume that microbial life exists • Fundamental, but unanswered questions: • Identity and diversity of life • Nature of electron acceptors and donors that support life • Other related ecological and biogeochemical properties

15. Next Steps in the Exploration of Subglacial Environments Recommendation 1 Direct exploration of subglacial aquatic environments is required if we are to understand these unique systems. Exploration of subglacial aquatic environments should proceed and take a conservative approach to stewardship and management while encouraging field research. Recommendation 2 Exploration protocols should assume that all subglacial aquatic environments contain or may support living organisms and are potentially linked components of a subglacial drainage basin. Recommendation 3 As soon as adequate survey data have been gathered to provide a sound basis for description, all subglacial aquatic environments intended for research should be designated Antarctic Specially Protected Areas to ensure that all scientific activities are managed within an agreed international plan and are fully documented.

16. Next Steps in the Exploration of Subglacial Environments Recommendation 4 As soon as adequate survey data have been gathered to provide a sound basis for description, action should be taken to designate certain exemplar pristine subglacial environments as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas for long-term conservation purposes. Recommendation 5 Multinational projects should be encouraged in the study of subglacial aquatic environments, and all projects aiming to penetrate into a lake should be required to undertake a Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation.

17. Next Steps in the Exploration of Subglacial Environments Recommendation 6 The National Science Foundation should work in conjunction with the U.S. representatives to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and to the Committee on Environmental Protection to involve all Antarctic Treaty nations in developing a consensus-based management plan for the exploration of subglacial aquatic environments. This plan should seek to develop scientific understanding and ensure that the environmental management of subglacial aquatic environments is held to the highest standards.

18. Toward Establishing Levels of Cleanliness Recommendation 7 Drilling in conjunction with sampling procedures will inevitably introduce microorganisms into subglacial aquatic environments. The numbers of microbial cells contained in or on the volume of any material or instruments added to or placed in these environments should not exceed the minimum concentration of microbes in the basal glacial ice being passed through. Based on research to date, a concentration of 102cells mL-1 should not be exceeded, until more data are available. Recommendation 8 Drilling in conjunction with sampling procedures will inevitably introduce chemical contaminants into lakes and associated subglacial aquatic environments. Toxic and biodegradable materials should be avoided, as should the introduction of nonmiscible substances. At a minimum, the concentrations of chemical contaminants should be documented and the total amount added to these aquatic environments should not be expected to change the measurable chemical properties of the environment. The amount added would be expected to have a minor and/or transitory impact on the environment.

19. Toward Establishing Levels of Cleanliness Recommendation 9 Notwithstanding their compliance with Recommendations 7 and 8, investigators should continue to make every effort practicable to maintain the integrity of lake chemical and physical structure during exploration and sampling of water and sediments.

20. Exploration Protocols Recommendation 10 Allowances should be made for certain objects and materials to be placed into experimental subglacial aquatic environments for scientific purposes, for example for monitoring or tracing dynamics. These additions should follow the microbiological constraints in Recommendation 7 and include discussion and analysis of environmental risk versus scientific benefit as required by the Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation. Recommendation 11 As the initial step to define an overall exploration strategy, the United States, together with other interested parties, should begin immediately to obtain remote sensing data to characterize a wide range of subglacial aquatic environments. As a second step, preliminary data and samples should be obtained from subglacial aquatic environments as soon as practicable to guide future environmental stewardship, scientific investigations, and technological developments.

21. Exploration Protocols Recommendation 12 Remote sensing of the potential aquatic environments beneath the Antarctic ice sheet is under way but is far from complete. The following actions should proceed in order to make a decision about which subglacial aquatic environments should be studied in the future: • Continent-scale radio-echo sounding data should be assembled and subglacial aquatic environments identified; • All regions where the basal melt-rate is likely high should be identified; • Detailed radio-echo sounding of known lakes should be done; • A hydrologic map of the subglacial drainage system for each catchment should be constructed; and • Potential target environments should be identified based on the subglacial drainage system. Once potential research sites are identified, the likelihood of attaining scientific goals should be evaluated based on the representativeness for other lakes and settings, for accessibility, and for the constraints of logistics and cost. The committee recognizes that plans are under way to sample Lake Vostok, and in the longer term Lake Ellsworth and Lake Concordia. The data collected from these endeavors should be used to assess whether the levels of cleanliness suggested in Recommendation 7 are appropriate.

22. Research Needs Recommendation 13 Reduce contamination throughout the drilling, sampling, and monitoring processes, on methods to determine the background levels of microbes in glacial ice and lake water, and on development of miniaturized sampling and monitoring instruments to fit through the drilling hole: • A standard method to ensure cleanliness for drilling, sampling and monitoring equipment that can be verified in the field; • New ways of drilling through the ice sheet that include drilling fluids that would not be a substrate for microbial growth; • Inert tracers in the drill fluids or fluids used to enter the lake to track the level and distribution of contaminants within the lake; • Methods to determine baseline levels of microbes in the glacial ice and subglacial waters; • Instrumentation scaled to fit through a bore hole, to measure chemistry and biology of these environments and transmit data back to the ice surface; • Methods to provide clean access to the lake water for extended periods. The committee recognizes that plans are underway to sample Lake Vostok, and in the longer term, Lake Ellsworth and Lake Concordia. The data collected from these endeavors should be used to better assess the requirements of future methodologies and technologies.

23. Guidelines for Stewardship, Management and Project Review

24. Conclusions • Exploration of subglacial aquatic environments is in its initial stages • Many fundamental questions remain • Much speculation and debate based on limited data available • No definitive answers will be forthcoming until environments are sampled directly • Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments are common heritage of all humankind • Management requires responsible environmental stewardship while allowing field research

25. Desired Impacts • The multinational makeup of the committee will be broadly recognized • Recommendations serve as a basis for broad international discussion about the environmental stewardship for the exploration of subglacial aquatic environments