[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 53664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23258]



[[Page 53664]]

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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Permit Applications Received Under the Antarctic 
Conservation Act of 1978

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of permit applications received.

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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish a 
notice of permit applications received to conduct activities regulated 
under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published 
regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act in the Code of Federal 
Regulations. This is the required notice of permit applications 
received.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit written data, comments, 
or views with respect to this permit application by November 23, 2018. 
This application may be inspected by interested parties at the Permit 
Office, address below.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Permit Office, Office of 
Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 
Alexandria, Virginia 22314.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nature McGinn, ACA Permit Officer, at 
the above address, 703-292-8030, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Science Foundation, as directed 
by the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-541, 45 CFR 670), 
as amended by the Antarctic Science, Tourism and Conservation Act of 
1996, has developed regulations for the establishment of a permit 
system for various activities in Antarctica and designation of certain 
animals and certain geographic areas a requiring special protection. 
The regulations establish such a permit system to designate Antarctic 
Specially Protected Areas.

Application Details

Permit Application: 2019-009

1. Applicant: Zicheng Yu, Department of Earth and Environmental 
Science, Lehigh University, 1 West Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015.

    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Enter Antarctic Specially 
Protected Area (ASPA). The applicant requests access to ASPA 113, 
Litchfield Island, to collect small samples of moss and peat and carry 
out field measurements. Moss samples would primarily consist of two 
species, Polytrichum strictum and Chorisodontium aciphyllum, and would 
be collected by hand. Cores of peat moss up to 100 cm deep would be 
collected by box corer (3 inches by 4 inches) or permafrost corer (2-
inch diameter). A limited number of samples would be collected from 
within the ASPA and from other nearby locations within the Palmer Basin 
ASMA. No equipment or instrumentation would be installed in ASPA 113. 
To minimize the potential for unintentional transfer of soils or 
organisms, the application and agents would clean sample collection 
tools, as well as clothing and shoes, between visits to different field 
sites. The samples would be processed at the home institution. Data 
gathered from this research will advance the understanding of peat moss 
banks to climate change during the last 3000 years.
    Location: ASPA 113, Litchfield Island.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: December 1, 2018-April 30, 2019.

Permit Application: 2019-010

2. Applicant: Mark Salvatore, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 
Northern Arizona University, NAU Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6010.

    Activity for Which Permit is Requested: Enter Antarctic Specially 
Protected Area (ASPA); Take; Harmful interference. The applicant 
requests access to ASPA 131, Canada Glacier, to collect samples of 
mosses and microbial mats and carry out spectral measurements and 
imagery collection. The applicant and agents would enter ASPA 131 up to 
three times over the course of a single season to collect samples and 
measurements from up to three discrete plots (20 m by 20 m) of the 
Canada Stream area. The number of samples collected within each plot 
during each visit would vary based on the degree of heterogeneity of 
the distribution of mosses or microbial mats. The applicant proposes to 
collect no more that 66 total samples of moss and microbial mats. 
Samples would be small (up to approximately 10 mL) and collected using 
a #13 cork-borer or, when sampling from rocks or uneven surfaces, a 1 
cm\2\ area of mat would be brushed into a sample container. While 
traversing the ASPA area on foot between sampling plots, the applicant 
and agents would use trails, when available, and would avoid extremely 
sensitive areas such as drainages, stream channels, and soft soils to 
the maximum extent possible. The applicant and agents would also 
conduct similar, but more extensive sampling of microbial mats in other 
stream systems within the Lake Fryxell Basin in the McMurdo Dry Valleys 
Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA 2). The samples, ground-based 
spectral measurements, and ground-based imagery would be compared to 
spectral signatures in satellite imagery with the ultimate goal of 
using remote sensing to study key ecosystem characteristics.
    Location ASPA 131, Canada Glacier; ASMA 2, McMurdo Dry Valleys.
    Dates of Permitted Activities: December 1, 2018-February 15, 2019.

Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2018-23258 Filed 10-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7555-01-P