Научный семинар ИГ РАН

4 сентября 2019

Научный семинар ИГ РАН

4 сентября 2019 года

в среду в 11-00

Vanishing Glaciers project

A deeper look into the changes of the high mountains as their glaciers disappear

Dr. Michail Styllas (Researcher, expedition leader), Martina Schoen (Technical specialist, field assistant), Matteo Tolosano (Technical specialist, field assistant), Vincent De Staercke (Technical specialist, field assistant) - Stream Biofilm and Ecosystem Research laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne

What else besides water do we lose as mountain glaciers vanish? This is the main question that Vanishing Glaciers research project will try to answer. The project’s overall goal is to study the biofilms (colonies of microorganisms) from hundreds of glacier-fed streams and to analyze their genomes. Through a combination of geology, biogeochemistry and microbiology, we hope to learn how these microbiomes have adapted over the millennia to the extreme conditions (e.g. turbid, cold waters) of the glacier-fed streams they are found today. In order to explain the changes of the microbial ecosystems, large-scale geomorphological changes of the glacial valleys, together with changes in the hydrology and biogeochemistry of the glacier-fed streams have to be assessed.

A competent field team prepared specifically for the project requirements will collect hundreds of water, sediment and biofilm samples from the world’s greatest mountain ranges. Following their expeditions in New Zealand and Greenland, their next expedition is in the Greater Caucasus range. The team members will share their experiences from the field, explain the types of observations, measurements and in-situ experiments they run and also present some preliminary data.