Searching the Arctic for Secrets of Extraterrestrial Life

Researchers have yet to find life on other worlds, but recent discoveries show that many of the bodies in our Solar System, including planets and moons, may harbor vast reserves of water ice. Frozen worlds, as distant as Pluto, could even possess liquid water, in the form of salty lakes and oceans under their surface.

Here on Earth, life thrives anywhere there is an adequate supply of water, even under the harshest conditions. In an effort to learn more about how primitive lifeforms could evolve on frozen environments in space, a team of researchers explored cryopegs, trapped layers of salty water and sediment in the frigid environment of the Arctic. The samples were collected between 2017 and 2018.

Zac Cooper climbs into an icy tunnel to collect samples from the Arctic ice in May 2018. Image credit: Shelly Carpenter/University of Washington

“The extreme conditions here are not just the below-zero temperatures, but also the very high salt concentrations. One hundred and forty parts per thousand — 14% — is a lot of salt. In canned goods that would stop microbes from doing anything. So there can be a preconceived notion that very high salt should not enable active life,” said Jody Deming, a professor of oceanography from the University of Washington who specializes in studying microbial life in the Arctic Ocean.

This is Carrying Pickling to the Extreme