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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)

@afloback.bsky.social
238 followers 195 following 84 posts

🌊🧪 Post-Doc @soest.hawaii.edu thinking about how to link trace metal biogeochemistry to microbial biogeography • PhD from USC • proud cat mom • PADI divemaster • amateur photographer

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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Had a great week out at Flathead Lake Biological Station for a mid-project site visit/evaluation on our SUBSEA project! 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Two cruises this month! I participated in a cruise to collect new geotraces consensus standards, where we managed to collect ~3000 L of TM water, and HOT 365, where we did TM casts, incubations, sediment traps, and McLane pumps! Always happy to be at sea surrounded by a great team of folks 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
And seems like some of our Tricho friends are enjoying the warm ENSO waters! 🌊 Featuring: bloom and a 15 m McLane pump sample (ultra concentrated onto a smaller filter!)
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Back at station ALOHA for HOT-365. deployed our 5-depth sediment trap crosses
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Out at station ALOHA collecting new GEOTRACES consensus standards! 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
TM leach folks... Do you ever see (large) particles come off in the Berger soln?! This has been happening to me with sediment trap & >53um McLane pump samples (where particles rinsed from a nitex onto a supor). Seems like everything dissolves during dry down and data shows there's almost no Al/Ti 🤔
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Dr. Dawn Wright @deepseadawn.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
resist.bot/petitions/PT... 🌊 🦑
resist.bot
Save the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)
Join 1 people. Please help STOP the destruction of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) by this lawless administration, and all this while Hurricane Season… Sign and Resistbot delivers your letter...
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Patrick Rafter @oceanandclimate.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
🌊 It’s a sad day for @cmarinescience.bsky.social A lot of world class scientists (and me) have likely lost their life work as our main building surprsingly caught on fire today. We don’t know the scale of the loss, but it’s certainly very very bad. www.fox13news.com/st-petersbur...
fox13news.com
USF College of Marine Science
Our live waterfront webcam in St. Petersburg, Florida is located at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. This image should refresh every 60 seconds.
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Super excited that this work from our Oregon cruises is finally out! We found particle-rich iron plumes originating from the continental margin from both the shelf and slope sediments. Great collaboration between cross-town LA observationalists and modellers🤩🌊 www.pnas.org/eprint/FT3HZ...
Particulate and dissolved iron distributions showing large plumes forming off the continental margin
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Members of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their termination
scientificamerican.com
Entire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administration
Members of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their termination
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Check out what we were up to on this past cruise! More coming soon...
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Seth Bushinsky @sethbushinsky.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Being a graduate student has always been hard, but seems even more difficult these days. Please consider supporting UH Mānoa Oceanography students: give.uhfoundation.org/schools/Univ... @uhmanoa.bsky.social
give.uhfoundation.org
Friends of Oceanography
Join me and make a gift for UH Giving Day!
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Our latest video story for the #OBVI #SUBSEA expedition with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social is live — check it out! youtu.be/EPcPzG4f59Q?...
youtu.be
Beneath the Surface | SUBSEA Part 1
YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
A rainbow showed up for our 100th TM rosette sample on the SUBSEA cruise aboard the Falkor (Too)
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
First main station done and stopped for a quick short station for a few ctd casts and a beautiful sunrise TM casts 🌊
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Another expedition underway! During #OBVI #SUBSEA expedition w/Schmidt Ocean Institute & @schmidtsciences.bsky.social Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute, Dr. Matthew Church and a team of international collaborators are investigating nutrient exchange w/in the South Atlantic subtropical gyre.
Mattia Da Fieno holds an oxygen glass bottle in front of a porthole during setup at the main lab aboard Falkor (too).Telescopic crane deploys sediment trap aboard Falkor (too).Captain Peter Reynolds and Chief Scientist Mathew Church on the aft deck of R/V Falkor (too).
Small work boat with scientists on calm seas
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Our second container of gear came in and we hit the ground running with deployments of a full 60 PIT sediment trap, trace metal and rosette, and McLane pumps. All of these (and more) will help us characterize export of particles as part of the SUBSEA project 🌊 @schmidtocean.bsky.social
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Recovered our sediment traps yesterday and redeployed them this morning. Re-recovering them tomorrow before we head back to port to *hopefully* meet our container to really spin up operations 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Enter creative sampling for some trace metal clean surface water in absence of our rosette. Feat: crane+ carboy and small boat + carboy (following a glider deployment). 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
First sediment trap cross deployed! Making due with 12 of the planned 60 PITs we happened to carry on the flight here while we wait for our container 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
And we're off on part 1 of our SUBSEA cruise in the South Atlantic aboard the Falkor, Too. One of our shipping containers is delayed so we're improvising (see the air conditioning size HEPAs and making some new sediment trap brine) for a shake down station before the container arrives 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Science friends! We recently started using an inherited dynamax rp-1 peri pump (with a single spare peri pump tubing) to help circumvent clogging with our mass spec.... But I'm in tubing misery and can't seem to find the right bridge length (seems to be 180mm??). Anyone have a tubing part no.?
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Happy international day of women and girls in science! Grateful for this powerhouse of a postdoc group that I work with 💗🥳
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Silly side observations of my cats help lighten life sometimes. Here, I present, the growth of my cat olive's fur from 7 days before she got shaved against my wishes (miscommunication), day 0, and day 365! We made it
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Phew, have spent the last few months grinding away at cruise prep and am officially packed in containers and done for the year! Some acid washing stats: ~800 L of bottles / carboys ~7 m² of filters
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
180 L of trace metal clean sediment trap brine packed away today! 🤞🏻 For a safe shipment
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 17/12/2025
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Spent the last two weeks in a workshop on ocean primary production funded by the @schmidtsciences.bsky.social as part of the Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute. Now time to finish cruise prep!
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Localized nutrient colimitation of phytoplankton growth rates across the subtropical South Pacific Ocean www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊
pnas.org
Localized nutrient colimitation of phytoplankton growth rates across the subtropical South Pacific Ocean | PNAS
The simultaneous depletion of multiple nutrients in seawater potentially leads to colimitation of phytoplankton growth across large oceanic extents...
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Francis Sedgemore @hesgen.com · 04/12/2025
Iron release into the Southern Ocean from thinning Antarctic glaciers could boost carbon absorption. Iron leached into seawater from exposed mountain tops boosts phytoplankton which take up CO2 through photosynthesis. The question is how much and over what timescales. #climate 🧪
nature.com
Thinning Antarctic glaciers expose high-altitude nunataks delivering more bioavailable iron to the Southern Ocean - Nature Communications
Iron-rich sediments are transferred from Antarctic mountains to the coast by glacial systems. Sediments that reach ice shelf fronts provide iron to ocean phytoplankton, increasing CO2 uptake; this cou...
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Last HOT cruise of the year (for me) ✅
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Underway for HOT361!
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Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
The amount of ice flowing from Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica has doubled in the span of three decades. These satellite images from 2001 and 2019 show the fracture and retreat of the glacier ice tongue floating on the Amundsen Sea, as it's melted from below. 🛰️ NASA
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
It's been a whirlwind of the last few months simultaneously sailing on HOT cruises and preparing to ship things for a S. Atl cruise. Honestly.... I'd rather rewrite my thesis than wash another bottle right now 🤣🙃. But today, I loaded for another HOT cruise AND moved my last items into acid. 💃🏻🥳
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 08/11/2025
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫
statnews.com
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
This week, I cleaned 100L of carboys, 36 L of bottles, and 360 McLane pump filters 🙀. Trying to catch up on desk work today, and... #CatsOfScience
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Patrick Rafter @oceanandclimate.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
💥California marine biogeochemists! So Cal BOOM* is at UCLA on November 22, 2025 (*Biogeochemical Ocean Obs & Models). This is an event for grad student and post-doc marine biogeochemists of all kinds. More senior peeps (like me) are also welcome! 💥 Register here: socalboom.wordpress.com
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Check out this write up describing what we're working on to understand biogeochemical cycling across different layers of the euphotic zone. The SUBSEA team is currently out on HOT-360 deploying SIX sediment trap crosses and McLane pumps this time 🎉 nautil.us/modeling-the...
nautil.us
Modeling the Deep
Modeling the Deep: An ambitious mission seeks to map the flow of crucial chemicals through marine food webs in far-flung oceanic gyres.
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CNBC @cnbc.com · 13/10/2025
NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure
cnb.cx
NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the Caltech.
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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 11/10/2025
11 days into a government shutdown. This is where we are:
youtu.be
Eleven Days Into a Shutdown. This Is Where We Are | Sen. Bernie Sanders
YouTube video by Senator Bernie Sanders
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Some views from HOT-359! 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Getting ready for HOT-359, featuring double the niskins! Working on testing a new rosette before shipping it off 🎉
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Photosynthetic electron, carbon, and oxygen fluxes within a mosaic of Fe limitation in the California Current upwelling system bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/... #jcampubs 🌊
bg.copernicus.org
Photosynthetic electron, carbon, and oxygen fluxes within a mosaic of Fe limitation in the California Current upwelling system
Abstract. We compare primary productivity estimates based on different photosynthetic “currencies” (electrons, O2, and carbon) measured in the dynamic coastal upwelling waters of the California Curren...
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Well that's a new one for me... 🤣 (No Niskins were irreparably harmed)
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Rick CarBOOso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
California! Set a reminder in your phone to call the gov’s office to tell Newsom to sign these five bills. The guy’s mercenary as hell so if he thinks the wind is shifting in favor of trans rights (it never shifted! Trans rights are human rights!) we could flip him. Info below. Call: 916.445.2841
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
Jule | Mal (they/them) @tom-joolery.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
If you are American faculty and aren't loudly speaking out against what's happening at @tamu.bsky.social right now, I suggest you read the news. Absolutely despicable actions by their admin and true loss for reliable, unbiased higher education. Acknowledging trans people exist is not "ideology".
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Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 12/09/2025
Breaking News: The EPA moved to stop requiring polluters to report their emissions of greenhouse gases. The proposal would end a key tool the government uses to track carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that are driving climate change.
nyti.ms
E.P.A. to Stop Collecting Emissions Data From Polluters
The data, from thousands of coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities, is the country’s most comprehensive way to track greenhouse gases.
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
That's a wrap on HOT358! Featuring the... fun... wire angle on my last trace metal cast post hurricane Kiko passing through
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Successfully recovered our 5 sediment trap crosses (60 PITs!) and spent the rest of the day homogenizing, subsampling, and filtering for macronutrients, trace metals, organics, DNA, et al. 🌊
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Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Another day at ALOHA, feat. a glider search party and recovery 🌊
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