Main Page
Research
Image Gallery
People
Student Opportunities
Outreach
Publications
Teaching
Contacts
Links
Field Blogs

This web page presents first, preliminary results and images of work carried out as part of a project supported through NSF's Life in Extreme Environments (LExEn) Program. For further details feel free to contact either the PIs or students associated with this project.

• Introduction
• Field work
• Lab studies: Microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Preliminary conclusions
• Image Gallery

Selected abstracts of presentations resulting out of this work:

• Morphology and microphysics of sea-ice brine inclusions and their importance for fluid transport and microbial life. H. Eicken, A. Stierle, C. Bock, H. Miller, K. Junge, C. Krembs, J. Deming, Invited Presentation at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, December 1999
• A new microscopic approach to investigate bacteria under in-situ conditions in sea-ice samples. K. Junge, C. Krembs, J. Deming, A. Stierle, H. Eicken, Presentation at IGS Sea-ice symposium, Fairbanks, June 2000
• Characterization of sedimentary particles and salt precipitates in coastal sea ice from Barrow, Alaska. A. Stierle, H. Eicken, C. Krembs, K. Junge, J. Deming, Presentation at IGS Sea-ice symposium, Fairbanks, June 2000
• Eicken, H., K. Junge, and J.W. Deming. 2002. Dress warm, focus on the fluids and be patient: Studying ice habitats and constraints on microbial life at low temperatures. AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, December. Eos. Trans. AGU, 83(47), F223
• Eicken, H. (2002) Studies of earth analogs of potential europan habitats: opportunities and limitations. In: Europa Focus Group Workshop 3, edited by R. Greeley, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, p. 11-12 (download this paper as an Adobe pdf file)

   

Selected publications resulting out of this work:

• Eicken, H., Bock, C., Wittig, R., Miller, H., and Poertner, H.-O. (2000) Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of sea ice pore fluids: Methods and thermal evolution of pore microstructure. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 31, 207-225. (download this paper as an Adobe pdf file)
• Junge, K., C. Krembs, J. Deming, A. Stierle, and H. Eicken (2001) A microscopic approach to investigate bacteria under in-situ conditions in sea-ice samples, Ann. Glaciol., 33, 304-310
• Stierle, A.P. and H. Eicken (2002) Sedimentary inclusions in Alaskan coastal sea ice: Small-scale distribution, interannual variability and entrainment requirements, Arct. Antarct. Alpine Res., 34(4), 103-114 (download this paper as an Adobe pdf file)
• Krembs, C., J.W. Deming, K. Junge, and H. Eicken. (in press). High concentrations of exopolymeric substances in wintertime sea ice: Implications for the polar ocean carbon cycle and cryoprotection of diatoms. Deep-Sea Res. I (download this paper as an Adobe pdf file)
• Eicken, H. (in press) From the microscopic to the macroscopic to the regional scale: Growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice. In: Thomas, D. N. and Dieckmann, G. S. (eds.) Sea ice - An introduction to its physics, biology, chemistry and geology. Blackwells Scientific Ltd., London. (download this paper as an Adobe pdf file)

    

Data sets and images collected as part of this project have been submitted to the NSF Arctic System Science (ARCSS) data base and we'd also be happy to provide these by contacting us directly.

Points of contact:

• Microbiology: Dr. Jody Deming (PI), Karen Junge (graduate student), Dr. Christopher Krembs (postdoctoral researcher)
  School of Oceanography, Box 357940, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
• Sea-ice microphysics: Dr. Hajo Eicken (co-PI), Aaron Stierle (graduate student), Michael Tapp (undergraduate student) Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757320, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320

This work has been supported through NSF (LExEn) Grant OPP-9817738. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Magnetic resonance imaging studies have been conducted in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany (Dr. C. Bock, R. Wittig, Prof. Miller, Prof. Poertner) with financial support by the German Ministry of Research and Technology (BMBF). Logistical support by the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) is gratefully acknowledged.