I love the cold. No wonder, I fell in love with the Polar Regions as a child when I watched a documentary about penguins. When I studied marine biology later in my life, I took the chance to spend over a year on the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard and in Greenland for my degree. I can tell you: it was an amazing experience!

What I love most about my job is travelling the world while doing things I really like. I counted whales and dolphins on big cargo ships while crossing the Atlantic, fished for crabs in the deepest freshwater lake on Earth (Lake Baikal in Russia), and worked on a fishery research vessel in the German North Sea. Finally, I decided to study small animals called “zooplankton” that are transported by the water currents. They are the basis of the marine food web, so no zooplankton means no fish or no marine mammals!

My most recent adventure started in the end of last year, when I came to Tassie for the first time in my life! I study here how my zooplankton helps us to fight Climate Change by storing a lot of the carbon dioxide from our atmosphere in the deep sea. The highlight of my work so far was a cruise to the Southern Ocean. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen icebergs or sea ice, but you’ll never know! The next adventure might be just around the corner!

Find me on Twitter at @svenja_halfter

For more information:

www.imas.utas.edu.au