EAR-PF: Current and future glacial controls on the rate of active microbial biogeochemical cycling in Arctic fjords

Michaud Alexander B, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Alexander B. Michaud has been granted an NSF EAR Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out research and education plans at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University in Denmark and Stony Brook University in New York. Dr. Michaud will investigate the role of Arctic fjords as a source or sink of iron and manganese to the Arctic shelf environment under current and future climatic conditions. Sediment cores from the fjords of Svalbard (an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, between Norway and the North Pole) will be used to measure rates of metal and sulfate reduction and to analyze aqueous and solid-phase geochemistry. The investigation will link data on active microbial populations with biogeochemical rates in Arctic fjord sediments, integrating multiple disciplines (geomicrobiology, geochemistry, glaciology, oceanography and geology). In addition to research, Dr. Michaud will develop interactive, standards-based Earth and life science lesson plans based on Arctic biogeochemistry and glaciology. This lesson plans will be used at Hardin High School, a rural school in southwestern Montana with high enrollment of Native American students. Dr. Michaud will interact with the students via Skype. The fjords of Western Svalbard are a biogeochemically active interface between the subglacial and shelf environments. The rates and interactions between microbially mediated Fe, Mn and S cycles within the fjord sediments ultimately influence the concentrations of metals exported to the shelf environment. The impact of increased organic carbon input to the sediments on biogeochemical cycles will be assessed by RNA stable isotope probing which labels the active microorganisms. These experiments will allow the rates of Fe, Mn and S transformations in fjord sediments to be linked with the active microbial populations. The investigation will integrate geobiological and geochemical methods to understand how terrestrial subglacial processes influence microbial communities in permanently cold (<5°C) marine sediments. This award was supported with funding from the Office of International Science & Engineering.