Technologies for Extreme Environment Observation and Research

Objective

The ambitious objective of the EXPLORER project is to develop, validate and use pioneering portable, robust and user-friendly photonic technologies for investigating in situ harsh natural environments, characterized by extreme temperatures, and remote or inaccessible natural locations. These cutting-edge solutions aim to enhance our understanding of natural and fragile ecosystems, contributing crucial insights into topics such as climate change and ecology which constitute a priority at a European and global level. Conventional practices foresee sample collection and transportation for subsequent laboratory analysis, which introduces unavoidable alterations to specimen functionality and prevent the study of its interactions with original ecosystems, limiting current investigation capabilities. Here we will develop new tools that, for the first time, will be usable both in situ and by non-expert endusers, which, overcoming current time-consuming and invasive procedures, will enable new discoveries and fundamental investigations. To tackle this multi-disciplinary endeavor, the EXPLORER consortium will leverage different and complementary expertise in micro-nano fabrication, photonics, electronics, data analysis, and biology. We will demonstrate the versatility of the proposed technologies applying them to highly different environments, including hot springs in volcanic regions, glaciers as well as deep lake beds and contaminated settings. Improving our knowledge on these environments offer an incredibly wide range of applications, which span from climate change monitoring through fragile ecosystem analysis to environmental poisoning evaluation and ambitiously even volcanic eruption prediction.