Darlene Lim

Curriculum Vitae:

Darlene is a geobiologist and limnologist (and yes, her last name is Lim) based at the NASA Ames Research Center. Her research interests span Earth and Space Science. She conducts limnological and paleolimnological investigations of remote lakes and ponds in the Canadian High Arctic to characterize Holocene climate change. She has also extrapolated her Arctic work to Mars analogue paleolake reconstructions. Since 1999, she has been participating in the NASA/SETI Haughton Mars Project, and was selected to inhabit the Mars Society's Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS), the world's first Mars simulation base, at Haughton Crater in 2000 and 2001. She now sits on the Mars Society's Steering Committee.

Darlene led the establishment of the PLRP in 2004, and along with her co-PI, Bernard Laval, has enjoyed managing and evolving the project ever since. Her research interests at Pavilion Lake include its chemical and biological limnological characterization, and the isotopic biosignatures associated with the microbialites. She is also extremely interested in understanding the possible unique nature of Pavilion Lake through the exploration of near-by lakes and the regional geology.

Over the past decade, Darlene conducted fieldwork in the Canadian High Arctic, the Antarctic, throughout Central America, Guyana, and northern Chile. She continues to ardently promote the importance of science and exploration through lectures, media outreach and editorial contributions.

Projects

Understanding of Martian and Terrestrial Ice Features

NNA06CA93A

Characterize the physical properties of terrestrial snowpacks in an alpine environment through in situ data collection.

Numerically model the mass and energy balances of a snowpack under terrestrial conditions. Utilize the field data collected to validate and/or modify this model.

Couple spacecraft data and our validated numerical model to understand the behavior and stability of snow and/or ice in the two specific realms on Mars where the presence of surface snow/ice is most compelling: 1) the polar laminae and 2) the gully features.

Improve our understanding regarding the habitability of snowpack deposits on Earth and Mars.