The overall goal of the project is to develop an ecosystem level understanding of the rates and pathways of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and water cycling within an Antarctic dry valley lake, Lake Fryxell, and to develop a quantitative conceptual model for the system for comparison to similar ecosystems. Understanding the processes controlling elemental cycling in this physically relatively simple amictic system will enhance an understanding not just of Antarctic lakes but of other aquatic systems, especially marine and estuarine sediment systems and stratified water columns. The specific objectives are to determine the relative importance of physical versus biological processes in controlling the composition and distribution of bio-active versus non-bioactive gases in Antarctic dry valley lakes. A determination will be made of the relative importance for system organic matter production of rates of water column versus algal mat photosynthesis and their relative contribution to the ecosystem carbon cycle. The overall annual rate of organic matter decomposition within the lake ecosystem will be estimated. The final synthesis of data collected in this project will be a model of carbon balance for Lake Fryxell.
