The Deep Carbon Observatory: Transformational Opportunities in Science and Technology

The Deep Carbon Observatory’s overarching mission is to
understand Earth’s carbon cycle in toto—beyond the
atmosphere, oceans, and shallow crustal environments, which
have drawn most previous research attention—to include the
entire planet.

Transcript

1. The Deep Carbon Observatory: Transformational Opportunities in Science and Technology deepcarbon.net cschiffries@ciw.edu Craig M. Schiffries, Director Deep Carbon Observatory Geophysical Laboratory Carnegie Institution of Washington Joint AGI/GSA Societies Meeting Baltimore, Maryland 2 November 2015
2. Mission The Deep Carbon Observatory’s overarching mission is to understand Earth’s carbon cycle in toto—beyond the atmosphere, oceans, and shallow crustal environments, which have drawn most previous research attention—to include the entire planet.
3. Why Deep Carbon? •  Carbon is the element of life •  Carbon-based fuels supply most of our energy •  Carbon-bearing molecules in the atmosphere play a major role in climate change •  Previous work has focused on oceans, atmosphere, and shallow crustal environments •  The interior may contain >90% of Earth’s carbon but our knowledge of the deep interior is limited •  We do not know the nature of deep carbon reservoirs. We do not know how carbon moves from one deep repository to another. •  We are largely ignorant of the nature and extent of deep microbial ecosystems, which by some estimates rival the total surface biomass
4. Deep Carbon Observatory Overview •  A 10-year project launched in September 2009 •  Major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation •  Foster international cooperation •  Engage over 1,000 researchers from 50 countries •  Published over 600 papers in peer-reviewed journals •  Seed major funding for deep carbon research •  Example of proposed scope: Census of Marine Life o  $650 million total investment o  $70 million Sloan Foundation support o  www.coml.org
5. DCO Organizational Structure Executive Committee Scientific Steering Committees •  Extreme Physics and Chemistry •  Reservoirs and Fluxes •  Deep Life •  Deep Energy Secretariat Data Science Team Engagement Team
6. Interactive Map of DCO Field Study Sites http://deepcarbon.net/page/field-studies-1
7. Panorama and the Panorama team P. A. Freedman, Designer; D. Rumble and E. D. Young, co-PI’s Nu Instruments Ltd. Factory, Wrexham, Wales 5-November-2014 Next generation instrumentation is needed to achieve DCO goals
8. DCO Early Career Workshop in Costa Rica
9. DCO Summer School in Yellowstone •  36 participants from 14 countries •  Big Sky Resort, Montana, and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 13-18 July 2014 •  Three days of instruction in all aspects of deep carbon science •  Two days of field trips into Yellowstone •  Full support for all participants
10. DCO Collaboration with Scientific Societies Publications •  More than 600 peer reviewed papers published to date •  Open access •  Special issues Conferences •  Hundreds of presentations to date •  GSA Pardee Keynote Symposium; Goldschmidt Plenary Keynotes •  AGU and EGU Union Sessions •  Theme sessions at AGU, Goldschmidt, and other conferences •  GSA Short Course on Deep Carbon through Deep Time •  GSA and AGU Town Hall Meeting Diversity •  Grant to AGI to increase participation of USA underrepresented geoscientists
11. DCO’s first collective publication •  Released 5 March 2013 at 1st DCO International Science Meeting at U.S. National Academy of Sciences •  Open Access •  20 chapters •  700 pages •  51 coauthors from 11 countries Initial impacts •  News coverage was captured in 12 languages in 59 countries from 530 news sites including the world’s four largest wire services (Reuters, AP, AFP, Agencia EFE) •  More than 700,000 chapters were downloaded in the first four months
12. The Midterm Scientific Report of the Deep Carbon Observatory was released in December 2014 at the AGU Meeting in San Francisco.
13. Highly Saline Fluids from a Subducting Slab as the Source for Fluid- Rich Diamonds Yaakov Weiss, John McNeill, D. Graham Pearson, Geoff M. Nowell, and Chris J. Ottley 20 AUGUST 2015 NATURE
14. Redox Heterogeneity in Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts as a Function of Mantle Source 14 JUNE 2013 SCIENCE Elizabeth Cottrell, Katherine A. Kelley
15. MAY 2014 NATURE GEOSCIENCE Jay Ague and Stefan Nicolescu Carbon dioxide released from subduction zones by fluid-mediated reactions
16. Reservoirs and Fluxes June 2015 Early Edition PNAS Peter B. Kelemen and Craig E. Manning Reevaluating carbon fluxes in subduction zones, what goes down, mostly comes up
17. Deep Life: Chikyu Expedition 24 July 2015 349:420-424 SCIENCE Inagaki F, Hinrichs K-U, Kubo Y, Bowles MW, Heuer VB, Hong W-L, Hoshino T, Ijiri A, Imachi H, Ito M, Kaneko M, Lever MA, Lin Y-S, Methé BA, Morita S, Morono Y, Tanikawa W, Bihan M, Bowden SA, Elvert M, Glombitza C, Gross D, Harrington GJ, Hori T, Li K, Limmer D, Liu C-H, Murayama M, Ohkouchi N, Ono S, Park Y-S, Phillips SC, Prieto-Mollar X, Purkey M, Riedinger N, Sanada Y, Sauvage J, Snyder G, Susila- wati R, Takano Y, Tasumi E, Terada T, Tomaru H, Trembath-Reichert E, Wang DT, Yamada Y Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5km below the seafloor
18. Deep Energy Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Tullis C. Onstott, Georges Lacrampe-Couloume, Christopher J. Ballentine The contribution of the Precambrian continental lithosphere to global H2 production 18 December 2014 516:379-382 NATURE
19. 16 MAY 2013 VOL 497 NATURE G. Holland, B. Sherwood Lollar, L. Li, G. Lacrampe-Couloume, G.F. Slater & C.J. Ballentine Deep fracture fluids isolated in the crust since the Precambrian era Deep Energy
20. Global press attention for “World’s Oldest Water”
21. Hydrous mantle transition zone indicated by ringwoodite included within diamond MARCH 2014 VOL 507 NATURE Graham Pearson, Frank Brenker, Fabrizio Nestola, John McNeill, Lutz Nasdala, Mark Hutchison, Sergei Matveev, Kathy Mather, Geert Silversmit, Sylvia Schmitz, Bart Vekemans, Laszlo Vincze Diamonds and the Mantle Geodynamics of Carbon
22. Extreme Physics and Chemistry APRIL 2014 VOL 5 NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Mario Santoro, Federico Gorelli, Roberto Bini, Ashkan Salamat, Gaston Garbarino, Claire Levelut, Olivier Cambon, and Julien Haines Carbon enters silica forming a cristobalite-type CO2 -SiO2 solid solutions
23. Extreme Physics and Chemistry 18 February 2015 6:6311 NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Eglantine Boulard, Ding Pan, Giulia Galli, Zhenxian Liu, Wendy Mao Tetrahedrally coordinated carbonates in Earth’s lower mantle.
24. Methane Clumped Isotopes: Instrumentation
26. Methane Clumped Isotopes: Mass Spectrometry 27 JUNE 2014 VOL 344:1500-1503 SCIENCE Daniel Stolper, Michael Lawson, Cara Davis, Alexandre Ferreira, Eugenio Santos Neto, Geoffrey Ellis, Michael Lewan, Anna Martini, Yongchun Tang, Martin Schoell, Alex Sessions, John Eiler Formation temperatures of thermogenic and biogenic methane
27. Methane Clumped Isotopes: Absorption Spectroscopy 24 April 2015 348:428-431 SCIENCE David T. Wang, Danielle S. Gruen, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Lucy C. Stewart, James F. Holden, Alexander N. Hristov, John W. Pohlman, Penny L. Morrill, Martin Könneke, Kyle B. Delwiche, Eoghan P. Reeves, Chelsea N. Sutcliffe, Daniel J. Ritter, Jeffrey Seewald, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Harold F. Hemond, Michael D. Kubo, Dawn Cardace, Tori M. Hoehler, Shuhei Ono Nonequilibrium clumped isotope signals in microbial methane.
28. Publication 24 April 2015 348:394-395 SCIENCE
29. New Class of Mass Spectrometers Panorama Mass Spectrometer UCLA/Nu Instruments
30. Sponsors •  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation •  UK Natural Environment Research Council •  Russian Ministry of Science and Education •  European Research Council •  European Commission’s Marie Sklodowska Curie Research Program •  US National Science Foundation •  US Department of Energy •  Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada •  Canadian Space Agency •  Canada Research Chairs Program •  Conseil Régional d’Ile de France •  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft •  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science •  Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, & Technology of Japan •  Chinese Academy of Sciences •  International Continental Scientific Drilling Program •  International Ocean Discovery Program •  Many other organizations
31. For More Information Craig M. Schiffries, Director Deep Carbon Observatory Carnegie Institution of Washington cschiffries@ciw.edu 202-478-8819 deepcarbon.net