Frédéric Le Moigne has been awarded the 2020 Best Early Career Scientist Award for the Ocean Sciences Division and has agreed to be interviewed for our first post on the new Ocean Sciences blog.
Frédéric, can you tell us about your background and training?
I was born and grew up on the Atlantic coast, near the Bay of Brest in Brittany, in the west of France. In Brittany, the ocean is an important part of life. I always saw myself doing something to do with the ocean. That's why I set out to do a degree in marine biology at the University of Western Brittany in Brest. I then crossed the Channel to the UK (just a few hundred kilometres away!) to do a PhD at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. That's where it all started and I really enjoyed my PhD, both personally and professionally. My research was funded by the European Community, so I travelled all over Europe. After a short stay in Germany at GEOMAR-Kiel, I returned to France to take up a permanent research post. I'm delighted that my scientific career has enabled me to discover different countries. Europe is a fantastic place for this, and my generation is probably one of the first to consider Europe as a country, thanks to the Schengen Agreement. I am deeply attached to the idea that you can cross the borders of European countries without showing any identification.
Your research takes you to remote regions. What is the biggest challenge for you when working in remote areas?
Working as an oceanographer takes you to amazing places around the world that are not typical holiday destinations. The polar regions are a good example. The downside of so much travel is that you are often away from your family, relatives and friends for long periods of time. We've all got used to this separation, but it's still sometimes difficult. Last year, over Christmas and New Year, I spent RRS Discovery in the Southern Ocean, a time of year that is normally spent with family and friends.
Part of your current research focuses on polar oceanography. Can you briefly explain how icebergs can influence marine primary production and how this could be affected by climate change?
In remote regions such as the Southern Ocean, the growth of small marine algae called phytoplankton is limited by the availability of specific nutrients needed in very small quantities, called micronutrients. Icebergs act like gigantic delivery trucks full of micronutrients that could potentially fertilise the Southern Ocean. What's more, global warming could increase the number of icebergs flowing into the ocean. More icebergs could potentially increase phytoplankton activity in the Southern Ocean and therefore increase the removal of carbon from the atmosphere into the ocean, known as carbon sequestration. However, a recent study (Hopwood et al., 2019, Nature Communications) has shown that not all icebergs are created equal. Some tend to deliver most of their micronutrients to coastal rather than offshore waters as they drift and melt. This happens because in most icebergs, micronutrients are concentrated at the edges, contrary to what was previously thought. It is therefore very important to consider the types of icebergs if we are to assess the effect of future iceberg melting on marine productivity.
What challenges do you face when studying the transport of organic matter from surface waters to the deep ocean in different ocean regions?
I would say mainly logistics. Doing fieldwork at sea on research vessels involves an incredible amount of planning before, during and after the expeditions. Expeditions at sea always involve a lot of people, from the ship's engineers to the scientific support team. It's like a little village at sea where everyone has a role to play. The science wouldn't be possible without these people. Studying export flows presents its own challenges. We are used to deploying instruments adrift in the ocean to catch flakes of 'marine snow' made up of ageing plankton that fall from the ocean surface to the depths. Locating and recovering these drifting instruments is sometimes complicated.
Your research covers a wide range of subjects related to ecology, biogeochemistry and oceanography. How have you been able to expand your knowledge and expertise to such an extent?
This starts with a solid university education in all aspects of oceanography. To understand how ocean biology works, you first need a good understanding of ocean physics and chemistry. In addition, working in some of the world's leading ocean research institutes gives you the opportunity to experience a very wide range of ocean research programmes and to work with people from very different scientific backgrounds. My knowledge and expertise develop as a result. It allows me to approach scientific questions from different angles.
You will be recognised by the Ocean Sciences Division as an outstanding early-career scientist in 2020. What do you think are the personal and professional factors that have led to this great recognition?
It's easy to get discouraged by various aspects of this work. So I think it's essential to be persistent. It's also important to always present your ideas to different people, with different scientific backgrounds. This gives you an idea of the importance and relevance of your scientific questions. It also allows you to refine and improve your ideas. As scientists at the start of our careers, we are often subject to intense scrutiny. It's important to listen to the critics and make your scientific demonstration better, stronger and more understandable to everyone.
What do you see as your main challenges as an early-career scientist, and how are you tackling them or preparing for them?
It's essential to give yourself time to think about science. It's easy to get involved in too many things. The scientific process takes time to mature and refine. Scientists at the start of their careers are somehow pushed to publish data too quickly without giving time for interpretation to develop fully. I recently obtained a permanent position as a researcher with the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), at the Institut Méditerranéen d'Océanographie in Marseille, in the south of France. Such a position comes with a lot of administrative, organisational and representational tasks. But it also gives me a lot of freedom to think about what science should be doing. This is essential if we are to design and implement high-impact science.
Thank you, Frédéric, for the interview you had while you were at sea and for your advice to other scientists at the start of their careers!
Interviewed and edited by Meriel J. Bittner & Gwyn Evans