Dr Svenja Halfter
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svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Dr Svenja Halfter
@svenjahalfter.bsky.social
520 followers 73 following 26 posts
Marine scientist working on plankton ecology & biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean. Based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa/New Zealand, they/she 🏳️‍🌈
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svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Hectic few weeks as I'm running around to pack the last things for my research voyage to #Antarctica in January! Hopefully, this will be enough tape... Who knows?!

#bucketscience
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A pile of rolls of colourful electrical and black and silver duct tape next to heaps of colourful cable ties in the back. Also pictured: 4 adapters NZ to Europe.
December 7, 2023 at 3:03 AM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Happy #AntarcticaDay!

I took the day to plan my next trip south on the Italian icebreaker #RVLauraBassi at the end of January😍🐧🥳. I feel very privileged to keep returning to this beautiful continent💙

Here are some pics of the northwestern Ross Sea from last season.
🧪🌎⚒️🦉
Cape Adare in the morning sun. The cliffs are brown and red and covered in a little bit of snow. Adelie penguin sitting on an ice float in a field of sea ice. Picture of an iceberg which looks all frosty and glossy against a dark grey sky. Sunset from outside the bridge of the RV Tangaroa. You can see the orange and yellow sun setting at the horizon, which casts beautiful light on the water and the ship. On the deck you can see a person who's taking pictures.
December 1, 2023 at 4:01 AM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Pyrosomes are colonies of animals, which even though they look like weird jellyfish, are closer related to us than to jellies! If the conditions are right, they can form massive blooms. They feed on little algae and other organisms in the water and can glow in the dark 💡!
A bunch of pyrosomes at the sea surface in shallow waters.
November 28, 2023 at 4:14 AM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Opening my emails this morning to find random #pyrosome pics people thought I'd appreciate. Love it!!😂😍

#marinebiologistthings
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Picture of a few pinkish pyrosomes that hang on a line of a crayfish pot at sea. You can see a bit of land on the horizon.
November 27, 2023 at 7:21 PM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
The next #SouthernOcean ❄️🌊 voyage is finally confirmed!! Will sample 🦐 zooplankton and water within the Ross Sea polynya and along the ice shelf in February 2024!

Does anybody need samples? Already collecting extra salps, jellyfish and pteropods for collaborators in Germany and Australia!

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Map of the Ross Sea with sampling sites in Terra Nova Bay, along the Ross Sea ice shelf (in grey) and the continental shelf.
November 15, 2023 at 7:46 PM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
This was the first time I'd ever seen hummingbirds in my life! 🦉🐤🐦
It was so much fun to explore Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay during my US trip last month ❤️
Picture of a hummingbird at a bird feeder. It's green and brown with a pinkish head (most likely an Anna's hummingbird) Picture of a hummingbird at a bird feeder. It has a brown and grey head and you can see its beautiful, green back. Picture of a hummingbird at a bird feeder. It's green and brown/grey with a pinkish head (most likely an Anna's hummingbird).
October 28, 2023 at 8:15 AM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
Love data visualisation and infographics? Working on the impact of climate change on the Southern Ocean? Consider submitting your designs to the SCAR EG-ABI data visualisation competition and win up to USD $ 600!

More info here: www.scar.org/scar-news/eg...
Poster of the EG-ABI visualisation competition "Impacts of climate change around Antarctica and the Southern Ocean". Submit a piece of data visualization on the impacts of climate change on Antarctica and the Southern ocean. Three prizes, first prize USD$600. Deadline for entry: 17 November 2023.
October 23, 2023 at 7:20 PM
svenjahalfter.bsky.social
On the one hand, I should do #science. On the other hand, there is now a live webcam in one of the nesting boxes in the little blue #penguin colony at NIWA Wellington. Tough decision!

Watch the live feed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i89AYGekG6Y
A little blue penguin, sitting in a nesting box and looking adorable. Screenshot of YouTube live feed. Little blue penguin in nesting box, sitting very close to the camera.
August 8, 2023 at 4:47 AM