In  just under a month I will begin my journey back to the mountains of Queen Maud Land in Antarctica to revisit one of the most fascinating and wonderful places on the planet - Lake Untersee.  In 2008, with Tawani International Antarctic Expediton  we worked there from mid Nov until the third week of Dec. Perhaps the single-most important observation we made during that expedition occurred during the last week or ten days - the discovery of large conical stromatolites growing on the bottom of the lake. As far as we know, these are the only modern analogs to similar microbial structures that formed

as far back as 3.45 billion years - the dawn of life on our planet. The image of the modern stromatolites is one I captured while diving beneath the ice and it shows several things: the water is stunningly clear, the bottom is pretty dynamic with hills and valleys along with downward slope, and its covered in a rich, luxuriant benthic microbial mat composed of primarily cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria. Interestingly, diatoms appear to be absent. We found none in any of the samples we collected, nor were pigments normally associated with diatoms detected. We are still a bit puzzled by this. There are many diatoms that exist in high pH waters, and all of the other lakes we have observed elsewhere in Antarctica have diatoms associated with the mats. But it could just be one of those biogeographic quirks - the right subset of diatoms that COULD adapt to this lake simply have not

made it there yet. But the most interesting aspect of the image are the large, conical stromatolites that are reaching upward from the bottom of the lake. Our drop cameras detected them forming on the bottom to depths of at least 100 m, and we think that photosynthetic mats will be able to grow to depths of about 130 m. Below that depth the water column is getting pretty dark, with less than 0.1% of the surface light reaching the bottom. 

The second image, shows the white, silicified remains of conical stromatolites that formed in what is now western Australia 3.45 billion years ago.

Chris McKay, myself and 22 other scientists and teachers visited this site and a few more as part of a NASA Spaceward Bound Activity this last July.  Its not hard to imagine the environment of the ancient conical stromatolites when you have a modern one to gaze upon. One big difference would have been temperature - it would have been much warmer in the earlier Australian setting with no ice-cover to block out the light. But, importantly, like the Antarctic setting which is devoid of larger metazoans - no fish, no insects, no worms, or crustaceans or other multicellular organisms that would otherwise disrupt these microbial mat communities and destroy their various morphologies. And what compels a colonial collection of microorganisms to construct the various macro-scale forms we observe in the ancient record as well as modern?  We really do not know - this is one of the compelling questions we are seeking to answer by studying these polar analogs to their ancient cousins that were proliferate on early Earth.

You can read more about this discovery in the scientific journal Geobiology.  You can find the paper here:

http://goo.gl/HaYFt .  Additional material in the popular press can  be found at the following websites: http://goo.gl/rcQSo and http://goo.gl/ttYdE

This year my research team will be a bit smaller with six of us making the trip to the lake.  We are a diverse group in many ways - three different countries (Russia, NZ and the US), scientifically: aquatic microbiology, molecular biology, geology, limnology and astrogeophysics. But we all  have extensive histories that inlude much field research in polar settings, both Arctic and Antarctic as well as other temperate regions of the planet.

Our field team members are:

Dale T. Andersen, Ph.D. – Team leader and Science Lead, SETI Institute, USA

Valery Galchenko, Ph.D. – Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russia

Ian Hawes, Ph.D. – University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Vladimir Akimov, Ph.D. – Skryabin Institute of Biochem. & Physiol. of Microorganisms, Russia

Christopher P. McKay, Ph.D. – NASA Ames Research Center, USA

Dawn Sumner, Ph.D. – University of California, Davis, USA

To get a sense of where we will be heading to conduct our research take a look at the panorama i made from images I took in 2008. Be sure to zoom in and fill your screen with as much of the image as possible - then look around. You will see Valery, who was out on the ice with me at the time, walking towards the camera, and then, after panning further around, he is seen back to the camera, walking towards the camp. In the camp you can also see Chris McKay near the tents.

The Untersee Oasis is a windy place - while camped there in 2008 we had strong winds most every day (and night) and they hit 100 mph plus on several occasions. We spend a significant part of each day dedicated to just living in this environment - in addition to the work we are trying to accomplish. But that is ok, its a part of the deal, and for many of us, the challenges we face while in the field are also part of the allure that keep us coming back year after year!

And this year, with the kind support of Woolrich, we will be extra-warm. They will be providing some very nice wool clothing - such as the classic Buffalo Shirt, which is bombproof warmth!