2nd Workshop on Dark Energy Biosphere Institute

October 19-21, 2009
Site: Kona Coast, Hawaii
Local Host: University of Hawaii (UH)
Theme: a) CORK Observatories b) Hydrogeology
Meeting steering committee:

• Jim Cowen (Chair), University of Hawaii
• Brian Glazer, University of Hawaii
• Andy Fisher, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Jan Amend, Washington University in St. Louis

Click here for more conference information: http://www.darkenergybiosphere.org/meetings/2009.html

Scientific Conference

The theme of the conference is Subseafloor Observatories and Exploration of the Deep Biosphere. The conference will comprise a series of keynote speakers covering aspects of CORK subseafloor observatory history and design, technical specifications and options for future modifications, drilling and other operational considerations, monitoring and contamination concerns, key results from earlier subseafloor experiments using observatories, and future directions for subseafloor biosphere science involving observatories (for description of CORKs and details of how they have been used see (Jannasch et al. 2003). In addition to oral presentations, all participants will be asked to present during a series of poster sessions (to be scheduled throughout the day in association with coffee and meal breaks) highlighting work completed or in progress involving subseafloor observatories and/or the deep biosphere, or conceptual proposals describing how to move the science forward through novel application of observatory technology for passive (monitoring) or active experiments. Our intent is to mix lecture and poster/discussion formats so as to encourage engagement and development of collaborative opportunities between individuals and groups that have not previously worked together or have had difficulty understanding each other’s science.

Educational Workshop

The training workshop at this meeting will focus on crossing over between microbiological sampling and monitoring and marine hydrogeology, with the primary goal of on developing a basic level of understanding among two disparate groups: those involved in development and use of CORK systems for marine hydrogeological studies, and microbiologists working in the deep biosphere or in other settings. It is important to note that this is a technologically challenging area of research and one that is extremely new to science and in particular microbiology. In order to succeed, this workshop will need to move beyond the standard introductory lectures that attempt to survey an entire discipline in 45 minutes. Instead, the workshop will comprise a series of linked discussion and practical calculations, introducing basic concepts in biogeochemistry, fluid flow, and solute fate and transport. It is not possible to provide a comprehensive curriculum in any of these topics given the short time available. Instead, workshop leaders will develop a series of presentations and exercises that provide a mechanism for non-specialists to gain a basic grasp of one or more key concepts (e.g., carbon fixation and accumulation of biomass, driving forces for fluid flow in the crust and associated budgets for nutrients, exchange between more and less biologically-important microenvironments during fluid transport).