https://phys.org/news/2018-07-scientists-explore-microbial-life-glacier.html

Through this project, which officially starts on 1 August 2018, the international team of scientists will explore the "third pole" through glacial streams in Alaska, the Himalayas, the Andes, Greenland, Scandinavia, Pamir, Kamchatka, Caucasus, New Zealand and the European Alps. It's the inaugural research program for the Alpine and Polar Environment Research Center (Alpole) in Sion and is being made possible thanks to funding from the NOMIS Foundation, which exclusively supports insight-driven scientific endeavors.

The scientists will collect samples from biofilms, which are thin, viscous films of microbes that form on sediment surfaces in glacier-fed streams. They will then use deep sequencing on the microbial DNA to unravel the structure and biological processes of the biofilms' microbiomes. The sequencing data will be used for two purposes. First, to look back in time, since it may contain ancient biosignatures that could help the scientists to unravel the microbes' strategies for adapting to their surroundings over time. And second, to get a glimpse into the future, since it will help the scientists to better understand how biofilms are being affected by the melting of glaciers and, consequently, the role that biofilms play in ecosystem functioning and the biogeochemistry of Alpine glacier-fed streams.