Birgit Sattler, 2008 Women of Discovery Air & Space Award

"Follow your gut feelings and be yourself, in any way!" — Birgit Sattler

Limnologist (a specialist in the study of fresh water ponds and lakes)

Born: 1969-01-01

Hometown: Innsbruck, Austria

Education: PhD in Microbiology & Limnology

Achievements

Discoveries: The atmosphere is a microbial ecosystem harboring active microbes; Lake Paula, an undiscovered permanently ice-covered lake in the Antarctic.

Expeditions: Antarctica; 2008 Tawani Expedition to Lake Untersee; Dry Valleys; South Pole; Patriot Hills; Pecora Escarpment; Antarctic Penninsula and Svalbard

Biography

Birgit Sattler is an explorer in both the Arctic and the atmosphere.  She is an Associate Professor at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, at the Institute of Ecology. Birgit has done her PhD. in microbiology and limnology in Innsbruck and is specialized on the microbial ecology of cold environments such as ice, snow, and the atmosphere. Her research focus is thus in the high mountains of the Alps as well as the high Arctic (Svalbard, Greenland) and Antarctica (McMurdo Dry Valleys with Montana State University, Antarctic Peninsula and South Pole).

She made the pioneering discovery that clouds are filled with living organisms. Having completed her Ph.D. on microorganisms in mountain lakes, her interests include bacterial production and activity, ice physics, and microbial processes in snow and in the atmosphere. Her project, “Origin and Dynamics of Bacteria in the Winter Cover of a High Mountain Lake,” investigates the classification of bacteria that inhabit ice, as compared to those found in snow from the North and South Poles. In Innsbruck Birgit is leading the working group, "Ice & Life." Furthermore, she is station manager for the “High Mountain Limnological Research Station” (2.417m) and safety officer for radioactivity for the Faculty of Biology. Birgit also serves as Vice President of the “Austrian Society for Polar Research” and is the Austrian Delegate for the Antarctic Treaty. With her research she has won many awards, including “Eduard Wallnoefer Research Prize” of the Tyrolean Industrial Society for “Ice & Life” (2003), Nominee for the “Austrian Scientist of the Year" (2005), "Air & Space" by Wings World Quest (2008) and the "Sparkling Science School Award." Besides her research, she works in an educational program initiated by the Austrian Ministry of Science and Education (”Sparkling Science”) where polar and alpine research is promoted for kids of various age with regards to awareness of climate change and extreme environments.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: The invincible feeling when in extreme conditions

Heroes: Mum and Dad--with their unfulfilled dreams, mine come true