IPY 2007-2008

Session Description:

The session will focus on research related to the diversity, distribution, functions and preservation of microbial communities and biosignatures in polar and alpine snow and ice environments and their links to and dependence on the availability and fluxes of specific geochemical inputs, such as organic matter and nutrients. Abstracts related to field and laboratory studies of life and biogeochemical processes in extreme cold settings that are characterized by low water activities, low nutrients, low temperatures, and high UV radiation levels are welcome. This could include research related to the habitability of icy environments, the characterization of the biogeochemistry, microbiology and biosignatures in cryoconite holes, subglacial aquatic environments or the microbial communities and processed on glacier surfaces. Laboratory studies that focus on microbial/organic - ice/snow interactions, on the adaptations to and preservation of life's biosignatures at subzero temperatures, or on radiation effects and consequences with applications to terrestrial and planetary studies, are all welcome.
Keynote:  David Pearce (BAS, UK)

Abstract submission deadline is on 21st February 2010 (23:59 UTC).
http://www.goldschmidt2010.org/abstracts/instructions

We hope this session will provide us all with a great opportunity to discuss the recent developments related to Life and ICE and we would appreciate if you could forward this information to any colleague/student that might me interested but that we may have missed.

Convenors: Liane G.  Benning (U, Leeds), Martyn  Tranter (U. Bristol) , Brent C.  Christner (LSU)
For more information please see http://www.goldschmidt2010.org/index