Despite the fact that Earth has experienced widespread glaciation throughout its history and that 11% of Earth’s surface today is covered with ice, active microbial communities in subglacial systems have yet to be fully characterized. Astrobiologists at Montana State University funded by NASA’s Exobiology Program have completed a study describing the presence of active, endogenous communities of microorganisms living beneath Robertson Glacier, Alberta, Canada.

Molecular techniques have revealed that the communities are more diverse than glacial surface communities, and are making active contributions to the global carbon cycle. The study appears in the March, 2013 issue of the ISME Journal.