Birgit Sattler Heads to Antarctica with PolarTrec!

WINGS flag carrier and 2008 WOD Awardee, Dr. Birgit Sattler is now taking WINGS Flag #21 along on her expedition to Antarctica, joining the PolarTrec, Ice Core Drilling in West Antarctica.  As she travels through this extreme environment and performs her research to find radioactive deposits in glacial ice, she will continue to keep us updated on her status.  Zip up your jackets, tug on your mittens, and join us as we tag along!

The Thrill of Returning to Antarctica:

"Opening up the door [in McMurdo] is quite a holy moment and somehow indescribable since you step down into a completely different world. The wind is howling, it is bright out there, snow is blowing around and you feel your heart open up, finally to be back!!!!!!! It is stunning and you could cry!!!!"

Primary Research Aims:

1. Expand the inventory of possible radioactive depositions originating from atomic bomb tests and the Chernobyl accident (following prior research on the subject in the Austrian glaciers).

2. Study the impact of microbes traveling in the air and note how they inoculate remote areas such as the polar regions.  Detailing the lipid acid patterns of the microbes will share where they came from and how far they can go.

3. Utilize a new method of viewing microbes in ice without destroying the ice matrix surrounding them, accessed via a 532nm laser (developed by Dr. Mike Storrie Lombardi).

About PolarTrec:

PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating in the Arctic and Antarctic) is a program of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS), funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in which K-12 teachers participate in polar research, working closely with scientists as a pathway to improving science education. PolarTREC builds on the outstanding scientific and cultural opportunities in the Arctic and Antarctic to link research and education through intriguing topics that will engage students and the wider public. PolarTREC is a three-year (2007-2009) IPY project that builds on the strengths of the past TREC program in the Arctic to embrace a wider range of research activities occurring at both poles during and after the International Polar Year.