The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes in interior Alaska are analogs to dunes on Mars and Titan. In March 2010, scientists discovered a booming hydrologic radar reflector cross-cutting aeolian reflectors in ground-penetrating radar from these dunes, indicating a reservoir of liquid water below the seasonally frozen layer and above the regional aquifer level. This liquid, being present during maximum freeze, could support microbial life.

Supported by NASA, researchers returned to the dunes in March and September 2025. Their goals were to see if life exists in the nutrient-poor sands, detect traces of life with instruments like those used in space missions, and monitor how conditions change with the seasons. They examined both a large dune and surrounding areas between the dunes, which might be more favorable to microbial lifeforms due to their connection to groundwater.

In March, the team collected electromagnetic data from the dune and its surroundings to understand more about the liquid water and ice. In September, they repeated some of the surveys and added a new geophysical method. This study helps us understand how liquid water in Arctic dunes might create and preserve environments where life could exist, guiding future explorations of similar environments on other planetary bodies.