DC1 ALESSANDRO CUZZERI OCTOBER 24 - MARCH 25
Months 19-21 (October - December 2024): Participation in the Tawani 2025 Lake Untersee Expedition, Antarctica (Oct – Dec 2024).
November 2024: Tawani 2025 Lake Untersee Expedition, Antarctica. Sampling and preliminary sample preparation procedures. Biostatistical analyses for own paper (Intra-seasonal trends of cryoconite bacterial communities on an Alpine Glacier).
December 2024: Tawani 2025 Lake Untersee Expedition, Antarctica. Sampling and preliminary sample preparation procedures. Biostatistic analyses for own paper (Intra-seasonal trends of cryoconite bacterial communities on an Alpine Glacier).
Month 22 (January 2025): Data analysis planning for Antarctica samples in collaboration with Team Anesio and drafting of policy brief on “Geotextiles on Alpine glaciers: science-driven recommendations and good practices”.
February 2025)– Total-RNA pipeline setup for upcoming analyses on local HPC cluster. Biostatistical analyses and beginning of drafting of own paper (Intra-seasonal trends of cryoconite bacterial communities on an Alpine Glacier).
Month 24 (March 2025) – Drafting of deliverable “An estimation of the microbial biomass and activity originating from the atmosphere and deposited on glacier surfaces”. Sequencing and bioinformatics of samples from 2023 Antarctica expedition..
DC6 KLARA KOHLER NOVEMBER 24 - APRIL 25
At the beginning of November, I attended the Nordic Branch Meeting, an annual conference of the Scandinavian branch of the International Glaciological Society (IGS). In mid-November, I had my midterm evaluation, which included a 45- minute presentation about my work and the status of my PhD, followed by approximately one hour of questions from my external examiner, Professor Kate Hendry (Ocean Climate Scientist at the British Antarctic Survey).
In December, I carried out the first round of a crushing experiments with sediment samples from Ilulissat, Greenland, and measured the difference in concentration of nutrients (N, P, Si, Fe) released into solution from the crushed and non- crushed sediments. At the end of December, I visited the GFZ in Potsdam, Germany, for a week to carry out XRD measurements on these crushed and uncrushed sediment samples.
At the beginning of January, I attended the Greenland Ice Sheet Seminar at our Risø Campus in Roskilde, Denmark. For the rest of the month I concentrated on organising and preparing the lab experiments that I started at the end of January.
In February, I spent most of the days in the lab. I started a time series on the nutrient dynamics between glacier sediments and pore water, measuring how the concentrations of N, P, Si and Fe change over time between dissolved in the pore water and available at the sediment surface. This time series will last about six months. In mid-February, I also attended the PhD Bundle Meeting, a meeting for all PhD students and supervisors in our department; this year's topic was “Insights and Reflections on the PhD Experience.”
In March I continued lab work. I continued working on the time series and conducted a second crushing experiment, where I crushed sediments and measured the concentration of released nutrients from the sediment into solution. For this experiment I used glacial sediments that I collected in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in the summer of 2024. I also took care of the preparations for my fieldwork in September and October this year, for which I had to pack and ship all the equipment I need for the expedition.
In April, I started processing the data from this year's lab work. At the end of April, I attended the EGU Conference in Vienna, Austria, together with other PhD students from our IceBio network. At the conference, I gave a talk about my research topic, glacial flour, and how it serves as a nutrient source for the subglacial and downstream environment.
