Research project : Investigation of biosignatures in Canadian Arctic gossans using field remote sensing instruments

My name is Gaëlle and I completed a bachelor's degree in biology in 2020. I have always been interested in the technical aspect of data acquisition, so I chose to do a DESS in geomatics. I was charmed by this innovative field of study so I decided to continue in this area of work by starting a master's project.

I joined the T-MARS project in the fall of 2022 under the supervision of Myriam Lemelin and Ed Cloutis (U. Winnipeg). My project aims to study the biosignatures found in Canadian Arctic gossans by using a variety of fine resolution remote sensing instruments. I will use spectroscopy methods such as visible and infrared reflectance and Raman spectroscopy, among others. These techniques will make it possible to simulate data acquisition done by robots on Mars. The objectives will be (1) to evaluate the potential of spectroscopy methods to identify biosignatures in gossans, (2) to characterize the biosignatures found and (3) to identify if there is an affinity between the biosignatures found and the mineralogy.

Project conducted under the direction of Prof. Myriam Lemelin and Prof. Ed Cloutis, September 2022 to August 2024.

Gaëlle is a member of the 2023 field sampling team.