News from above the treeline....

There is no better place to write the first real post to the "High - Treeline" blog than standing above one of the highest treelines on Earth on Pico de Orizaba, Mexico. Today is not the best day for shooting a movie as it is overcast with low lying and slow moving clouds. The peak is covered by the clouds and so the dramatic backdrop of bright blue sky and the snow capped mountain are not todays vista. At 4100m on Pico de Orizaba there is a very defined treeline with little in the way of a transition zone. Beyond this treeline we find srubs and grasses then lichens and mosses and finally bare rocks and the glacier leading to the summit at 5760m.

Here at 4500m we are over halfway to the summit of Everest at 8000m.
Why are we here? Its all about Mars! Mars?!!!! That's a dry lifeless place - right?

Yes you are right BUT - In the long and distant past Mars was not like that, it was a warmer and wetter place.

Mars might have been more like the conditions we find here above the treeline on Pico de Orizaba with a mean annual temperature of around 5C.

If in the future Mars became warm again or was made warm using super greenhouse gases it could be recolonized with life.

Here at Pico de Orizaba we are asking questions about what organisms are here and how they are surviving. Could these organisms be the type of organisms that could be used to recolonise Mars?

The organisms that I am most interested in are those that you cannot see - the microorganisms. More specifically those belonging to the domains Bacteria and Archaea. They would represent some of the first life forms to be introduced to a terraforming Mars. As we study these microorganisms we hope to find out how they function and survive in these harsh conditions beyond the limit for the survival and growth of trees.