The ENDURANCE (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctic Explorer) project. (Invited)

Details The ENDURANCE (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctic Explorer) project. (Invited) The ENDURANCE (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctic Explorer) project. (Invited)

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p11d..03d&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P11D-03

Biology

[0406] Biogeosciences / Astrobiology And Extraterrestrial Materials, [0424] Biogeosciences / Biosignatures And Proxies, [0439] Biogeosciences / Ecosystems, Structure And Dynamics, [1845] Hydrology / Limnology

Scientific paper

ENDURANCE (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctic Explorer) has completed two field seasons working in perennially ice-covered Lake Bonney. Our new data set for West Lake Bonney includes unprecedented hi-resolution sonar maps of the entire lake including through the connecting channel and into East Lake Bonney, 3D (at 100 m xy and subcentimeter z resolution) temperature, conductivity, pH, REDOX, photosynthetically-active radiation, chl-a fluorometry, turbidity and dissolved organic matter. The drop sonde science package also includes a bottom imager which collected 100’s of images of the benthic microbial community. An upward looking camera on the vehicle itself captured information on sediment distribution in the ice cover, which in conjunction with the PAR measurements will be used to generate whole lake photosynthesis models. Variation in ice thickness across the lake was acquired both by sonar and pressure transducer readings while the vehicle was at rest under the ice. A forward looking camera in conjunction with swath sonar was used to confirm the location of the grounding line of Taylor Glacier at the west end of the lake. Our preliminary assessment of the data suggests that the depth of the grounding line coincides with anomalous water characteristics near the glacier face, suggesting either a subglacial discharge or some previously undocumented mixing phenomenon. Our project tested two central hypotheses: H1: The low kinetic energy of the system (diffusion dominates the spatial transport of constituents) produces an ecosystem and ecosystem limits that vary significantly in three dimensions. H2: The whole-lake physical and biogeochemical structure remains static from year to year. Our results can be used to accept H1, and reject H2. Addressing either of these hypotheses would have been near impossible without the ENDURANCE vehicle. The data generated and conclusions drawn have advanced our knowledge of the lake ecosystems in the dry valleys dramatically. ENDURANCE was also a practical test vehicle for performing autonomous 3D science in an analog environment. In the end, we generated a novel data set over two years by taking a hybrid approach of supervised autonomy. By being able to watch over the shoulder of the vehicle and step in from time-to-time, we were able to be far more aggressive in our investigations than the vehicle would be if left to work alone. This and other lessons learned for future life detection missions will be discussed

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