Life In and Under the Antarctic Ice Sheets

• Published in: Microscopy Today
• Main Authors: Doyle, Shawn, Amato, Pierre, Christner, Brent
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2008
• Subjects: General Medicine; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1551929500059186; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1551929500059186

The discovery of viable microbial life in ancient glacial ice has opened up a plethora of questions related to how life can be sustained in such extreme environments. Cryo-microscopic analysis of lab prepared ice samples indicates that microbes are located in the small veins of water that exist between individual ice crystals. Crucial to these studies is to obtain an understanding of the physicochemical habitat for life through physiological and microscopic analysis.