International mobilisation for the ocean

Une zone sous-marine de 150 x 250 km avec les marées, le vent, la rotation de la Terre reproduites en miniature, c'est le défi que s'est lancé l'équipe du LEGI de Grenoble, en recréant pour la 1ère fois au monde dans une maquette le détroit de Gibraltar. Un exploit rendu possible au sein de la plateforme tournante Coriolis. Ce reportage nous présente le détroit comme un laboratoire en modèle réduit, ce qui va permettre aux chercheurs de comprendre comment des phénomènes très localisés…

Plus d'un an après sa mise à l'eau, BathyBot vient de s'éveiller au fond de la mer Méditerranée. Plongez aux côtés de ce robot téléopéré depuis la surface, le premier à être installé de façon permanente à 2400 mètres de profondeur pour au moins cinq ans. Accompagné d'un récif artificiel et d'une batterie d'instruments, BathyBot permettra d'étudier la biodiversité, la bioluminescence et les processus biogéochimiques des fonds marins. Imaginé scientifiquement par les équipes de…

This is a technology that may revolutionise the study of submarine faults. Off the shore of the Sicilian town of Catania, a team of scientists has installed an underwater fiber optic cable that crosses the North ALFEO fault in four places. The deformation of the cable enables the researchers to monitor the activity of the fault via a computer. To verity these results, an oceanographic mission has collected a wealth of information on the fault, which was discovered only 10 years ago.

It is a unique tool for studying corals and marine ecosystems. In this report, navigate the lagoons of French Polynesia aboard a scientific vessel, a ship-laboratory developed by scientists from the CRIOBE research centre, in Moorea.

Faced with global warming, coral reefs are on the front line. As global temperatures rise, the coral bleaches and dies. This decline has an impact on its entire ecosystem. Coral reef researchers Serge Planes and Laetitia Hédouin explain why research at CRIOBE is crucial to saving the coral. This video was produced as part of the OneOceanScience campaign organised by Ifremer, CNRS and IRD. Scientists from 33 countries take part in this digital world tour and explain in a series of short…

How much longer will marine life be able to withstand rising temperatures? Find out more about how scientists are trying to determine the impact of global warming on the physiology and behaviour of the gilthead sea bream.

The Tonga mission takes you on board the Atalante, a French oceanographic vessel searching for shallow submarine volcanoes in order to understand and predict the effects of fluid emissions on marine life and the climate. The expedition, led by two researchers, Sophie Bonnet (oceanographer, IRD) and Cécile Guieu (oceanographer, CNRS), is analysing and studying the effects of the addition of trace elements from shallow hydrothermal springs to determine the potential impact on marine productivity…

Waterproofing, fire-proofing and non-stick coating. These technologies bring safety and comfort to our daily lives, but are based on chemicals called per and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. Nicknamed “forever chemicals”, these molecules are volatile - they can be emitted by the materials they are applied on and get released into the air. There, they can linger in the environment for decades and travel vast distances, accumulating in regions far from their initial site of emission. In the…

Nanoplastics with a size of less than a thousandth of a millimetre are the finest form of plastic pollution. The Pepsea research project focusses on a type of nanowaste that is still poorly understood. Researchers chose Guadeloupe to study its impact on the environment. The island is exposed to the ocean and the North Atlantic Gyre making it an area of plastic accumulation. It is the perfect field of study for researchers who are going to explore its beaches and mangroves. They investigate the…

In order to study neutrinos, among the most elusive particles know to physics, an international team of researchers and engineers are building an incredible detector at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

A new scientific project launched by the Tara Oceans Foundation has embarked on the schooner TARA to sail the nine largest European rivers, in order to follow the route plastic takes before it transforms into microplastic. The scientists are using a manta net, which allows them to take samples from the surface of the water due to the small mesh size, and capture microplastics in the open sea, on the coast or in rivers. The aim is to determine the types of plastic contained in European rivers…

Forty-five million years ago, cetaceans lived on land. Adapting to the marine element over the centuries, they have nevertheless kept from their distant past certain behavioural, physiological and sensory abilities that differentiate them from other aquatic species. Off the coast of Spain, a team of researchers is studying a group of pilot whales to demonstrate that these animals have a sense of taste and smell and use them every day to communicate and feed. The outcome of this work would…

Plastic waste that accumulates in the ocean slowly deteriorates into smaller pieces. Scientists now estimate the amount of microplastics under the sea at 5000 billion tons, but the amount of nanoplastics remains unknown. That is why a French team decided to collect samples from the Mediterranean Sea to detect traces of nanoplastics. First, they concentrated the water by ultrafiltration and then used a dynamic light scattering technique to identify the nanoparticles. The final step was to resort…

Forty-five million years ago, cetaceans lived on land. Adapting to the marine element over the centuries, they have nevertheless kept from their distant past certain behavioural, physiological and sensory abilities that differentiate them from other aquatic species. Off the coast of Spain, a team of researchers is studying a group of pilot whales to demonstrate that these animals have a sense of taste and smell and use them every day to communicate and feed. The outcome of this work would…

Due to global warming and ocean acidification, coral reefs are now an endangered ecosystem. Aboard research shooner Tara, scientists embarked the Tara Pacific expedition in 2016, whose goal is to diagnose the health condition of corals. They aim at creating the most complete database about corals to date. To that end, they use visual analysis, samples, and a new cartography tool for ocean floors, the Hyperdriver. Divers soon noticed the high mortality rate of the reefs, with most corals losing…

About 70.8 % of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans. This huge reservoir of biodiversity is home to millions of species. Three researchers, Gilles Le Boeuf, Nadine Le Bris and Nathalie Niquil, explain the impacts of climate change on the marine environment. The multiple alterations caused by humans weaken ocean ecosystems and undermine their role as natural climate regulators. These far-reaching changes, which affect the abundance and diversity of marine species, have an impact on the…

Pendant longtemps, les discussions sur le changement climatique n ' ont pas pris l ' océan en compte. Quel rôle l ' océan joue-t-il dans le climat et quels sont les impacts du changement climatique sur l ' océan? Trois chercheurs, Sabrina Speich, Gilles Reverdin et Benoît Meyssignac, reviennent sur deux problématiques, le réchauffement et l'élévation du niveau des océans. Les mesures effectuées par des marégraphes, puis des satellites ont démontré que le niveau de la mer est monté…

About 27 % of French mainland coastline is eroding. These areas became increasingly vulnerable in recent years. With a growing population living less than 25 kilometres from sea shores in France and all over the world new challenges are looming. Not only erosion and receding coastlines but also major societal issues. There are three types of coastal environments in France: estuaries, cliffs and sandy beaches. As they have extremely different morphologies, the processes causing changes and…

MISTRALS is an international umbrella programme of interdisciplinary and systematic research and observations dedicated to understanding the environmental functioning of the Mediterranean basin under the pressure of global change and to predict its future evolution. It consists of 8 thematic or transversal programmes including ChArMEx, HyMex, MerMex, BioDivMex, PaleoMex, TerMex, SICMed, SocMed. Étienne Ruellan, director of the Mistrals programme, elaborates on this vast project.