Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Had a great week out at Flathead Lake Biological Station for a mid-project site visit/evaluation on our SUBSEA project! 🌊 010
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Two 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 🌊 050
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/08/2026And 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!) 061
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Back at station ALOHA for HOT-365. deployed our 5-depth sediment trap crosses 020
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Out at station ALOHA collecting new GEOTRACES consensus standards! 🌊 060
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 08/07/2026TM 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 🤔 100
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Dr. Dawn Wright @deepseadawn.bsky.social · 05/06/2026resist.bot/petitions/PT... 🌊 🦑resist.botSave 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... 42418
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.comUSF College of Marine ScienceOur 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. 2110853
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Super 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... 141
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/04/2026Members of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their terminationscientificamerican.comEntire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administrationMembers of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their termination 710858
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 10/04/2026Check out what we were up to on this past cruise! More coming soon... 010
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Seth Bushinsky @sethbushinsky.bsky.social · 08/04/2026Being 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.socialgive.uhfoundation.orgFriends of OceanographyJoin me and make a gift for UH Giving Day! 021
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 26/03/2026Our latest video story for the #OBVI #SUBSEA expedition with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social is live — check it out! youtu.be/EPcPzG4f59Q?...youtu.beBeneath the Surface | SUBSEA Part 1YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute 0113
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 27/03/2026A rainbow showed up for our 100th TM rosette sample on the SUBSEA cruise aboard the Falkor (Too) 010
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 20/03/2026First main station done and stopped for a quick short station for a few ctd casts and a beautiful sunrise TM casts 🌊 021
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 18/03/2026Another 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. 2174
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Our 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 0122
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Recovered 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 🌊 040
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Enter 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). 🌊 150
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 05/03/2026First 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 🌊 000
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 04/03/2026And 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 🌊 070
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 13/02/2026Science 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.? 110
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 12/02/2026Happy international day of women and girls in science! Grateful for this powerhouse of a postdoc group that I work with 💗🥳 030
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 22/01/2026Silly 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 010
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 20/12/2025Phew, 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 020
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 18/12/2025180 L of trace metal clean sediment trap brine packed away today! 🤞🏻 For a safe shipment 000
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 17/12/2025Exclusive: 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.lyTrump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in ColoradoThe Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs. 19014761089
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 15/12/2025Spent 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! 010
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 12/12/2025Localized nutrient colimitation of phytoplankton growth rates across the subtropical South Pacific Ocean www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊pnas.orgLocalized nutrient colimitation of phytoplankton growth rates across the subtropical South Pacific Ocean | PNASThe simultaneous depletion of multiple nutrients in seawater potentially leads to colimitation of phytoplankton growth across large oceanic extents... 03316
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Francis Sedgemore @hesgen.com · 04/12/2025Iron 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.comThinning Antarctic glaciers expose high-altitude nunataks delivering more bioavailable iron to the Southern Ocean - Nature CommunicationsIron-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... 0103
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 25/11/2025Last HOT cruise of the year (for me) ✅ 020
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 19/11/2025The 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 33428
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 18/11/2025It'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. 💃🏻🥳 000
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 08/11/2025A 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.comJames Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peersJames Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers. 11060061963
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/11/2025This 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 010
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 065
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Check 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.usModeling the DeepModeling the Deep: An ambitious mission seeks to map the flow of crucial chemicals through marine food webs in far-flung oceanic gyres. 010
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)CNBC @cnbc.com · 13/10/2025NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructurecnb.cxNASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructureThe Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the Caltech. 912070
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 11/10/202511 days into a government shutdown. This is where we are:youtu.beEleven Days Into a Shutdown. This Is Where We Are | Sen. Bernie SandersYouTube video by Senator Bernie Sanders 631458440
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Getting ready for HOT-359, featuring double the niskins! Working on testing a new rosette before shipping it off 🎉 050
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Photosynthetic 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.orgPhotosynthetic electron, carbon, and oxygen fluxes within a mosaic of Fe limitation in the California Current upwelling systemAbstract. 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... 031
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 30/09/2025Well that's a new one for me... 🤣 (No Niskins were irreparably harmed) 000
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Rick CarBOOso’s Private Fire Crew @amandasmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2025California! 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 0274167
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)Jule | Mal (they/them) @tom-joolery.bsky.social · 19/09/2025If 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". 001
Reposted by Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her)The New York Times @nytimes.com · 12/09/2025Breaking 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.msE.P.A. to Stop Collecting Emissions Data From PollutersThe 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. 47233163
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 11/09/2025That's a wrap on HOT358! Featuring the... fun... wire angle on my last trace metal cast post hurricane Kiko passing through 030
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 10/09/2025Successfully 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. 🌊 071
Alexis Floback, PhD (she/her) @afloback.bsky.social · 09/09/2025Another day at ALOHA, feat. a glider search party and recovery 🌊 030