Subglacial Antarctic lake exploration: first results and future plans

Professor Martin Siegert, Imperial College London, UK

Martin Siegert is Professor of Geosciences and co-Director of the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London. He was formerly director of the Bristol Glaciology Centre, University of Bristol, and Head of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to that, he spent four years at Aberystwyth University. He was educated at Reading University, where he gained his degree in Geological Geophysics, and at Cambridge University, where he was awarded his PhD in the numerical modelling of large ice sheets, at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Siegert’s research interests are in the field of glaciology. He uses geophysical techniques to quantify the flow and form of ice sheets both now and in the past. Using airborne radar he has identified and located ~400 subglacial lakes, has discovered ancient preglacial surfaces hidden beneath the existing ice and has demonstrated how sub-ice water is generated and interacts with the flow of ice above. He leads the UK NERC Lake Ellsworth Consortium, which aims to directly measure and explore an ancient subglacial lake in West Antarctica, to search for life in its water and comprehend records of climate held in sediments. Siegert has appeared regularly on national TV and radio to discuss his research, including BBC Radio 4’s Life Scientific in August 2012. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was awarded the 2013 Martha T Muse Prize in Antarctic Science and Policy.

Professor John Priscu, Montana State University, USA

Professor Priscu received his PhD in ecology in 1982 at the University of California, Davis for his work on biogeochemistry of high altitude lakes. He then went to New Zealand where studied local marine and freshwater systems. It was during this period that he became interested in Antarctic ecosystems and spent 4 months during the austral summer of 1984 studying the permanently ice-covered lakes in the Transantarctic Mountains. He joined the faculty at Montana State University, Bozeman in late 1984 where he continues to conduct research on arctic and Antarctic ecosystems. Professor Priscu has spent 31 field seasons working on polar ecosystems . His teams were the first to describe life in solid ice, study lakes in the Transantarctic Mountains during winter, and sample lakes beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.  Dr Priscu, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, has received numerous awards for his research, including a valley and a stream in Antarctica named after him, the Goldwaithe Medal for his work on polar ice sheets, and the International Medal for Scientific Excellence from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Dr Irina Alekhina, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), Russia

Alekhina Irina is Senior Researcher at the Climate and Environmental Research Laboratory (CERL) at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg, Russia, which she joined in September 2011. Earlier, in 1998, she joined the Department of Molecular and Radiation Biology at the St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute where she studied Lake Vostok. Her research activity focuses on the methodology of environmental stewardship and exploration of Antarctic subglacial aquatic environments; microbial diversity and microbial survival in extreme polar environments; and the search for life in extreme environments.

Professor Jemma Wadham, University of Bristol, UK

Professor Berry Lyons, The Ohio State University, USA

Professor Lyons is currently the Director of the School of Earth Sciences at the Ohio State University.  Lyons and his research group currently conduct research on three specific topics: 1. the biogeochemistry of Antarctic terrestrial/aquatic ecosystems and how they response to climate change, 2. the interactions and rates of chemical weathering, erosion/sediment transport and carbon dynamics, especially in small, mountainous watersheds and polar regions, and 3. the impact of urbanization, suburbanization and agricultural activities on water quality. He is a Fellow of GSA, AAAS and AGU. He is a Co-Principal Investigator on the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research program, one of the two Antarctic LTER sites funded by the National Science Foundation. He is a US representative on the Geosciences Standing Scientific Group of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), and currently the Chief Office of the Geosciences Standing Scientific Group. He is also a former Director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at OSU. He is an associate editor for Chemical Geology and Polar Science.