Subsurface in-situ detection of microbes and diverse organic matter hotspots in the Greenland ice sheet ...

• Main Author: Malaska, Michael
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Root 2023
• Subjects: Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48577/jpl.lrqpm9; https://dataverse.jpl.nasa.gov/citation?persistentId=doi:10.48577/jpl.LRQPM9

We used a Deep UV fluorescence mapping spectrometer, coupled to a drill system, to scan from the surface to 105 m depth into the Greenland ice sheet. The scan included firn and glacial ice and demonstrated that the instrument is able to determine small (mm) and large (cm) scale regions of organic matter concentration and discriminate spectral types of organic matter at high resolution. Both a linear point cloud scanning mode and a raster mapping mode were used to detect and localize microbial and organic matter “hotspots” embedded in the ice. Our instrument revealed diverse spectral signatures. Most hotspots were less than 20 mm in diameter, clearly isolated from other hotspots, and distributed stochastically; there was no evidence of layering in the ice at the fine scales examined (100 microns per pixel). The spectral signatures were consistent with organic matter fluorescence from microbes, lignins, fused-ring aromatic molecules, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and biologically derived ...