Grand Prize in Oceanography "Christian Le Provost" 2019 : Sophie Bonnet, Research Director IRD/MIO, 7th Laureate

We are pleased to announce that the jury of the Academy of Sciences has nominated the 7th winner of the Prize: Sophie Bonnet, Director of Research at the IRD at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology in Marseille.

Please find a short summary of his work:
"Sophie Bonnet is an oceanography researcher at IRD. His research theme is ocean biogeochemistry, specifically the role of nitrogen in the biological pump of carbon and its consequences on the oceanic carbon sink, the anthropogenic carbon cycle and climate. As recalled in Sophie Bonnet's scientific project, the ocean currently absorbs about 30% of the carbon emitted annually into the atmosphere by human activities, thus limiting anthropogenic global warming. Most of the carbon absorption by the ocean occurs by dissolving CO² at the air-sea interface, but a significant part is absorbed by phytoplankton microalgae via photosynthesis (biological pump), and after a series of transformations within the food chain is sequestered deep in the ocean. The efficiency of the biological pump depends on the presence of nutrients in the surface ocean, particularly nitrogen. Sophie Bonnet's work aims to shed new light on the processes that fix atmospheric nitrogen in the ocean's productive layer and thus ensure the nutrition of certain phytoplankton components.... Through measurements from 4 oceanographic surveys, it has shown that the hitherto poorly studied region of the Southwest Pacific is a global nitrogen fixation "hot spot". »
The Christian Le Provost Grand Prix will be officially awarded to Frédéric Ménard, Director of the IRD Oceans Department, in place of Sophie Bonnet (she is embarking on the Tonga campaign in the South Pacific) during the formal session to be held under the dome of the Institut de France on Tuesday 15 October from 15:00 to 17:30 (Académie des Sciences - 23, quai Conti - 75006 Paris).
The entire MIO staff would like to congratulate Sophie most warmly on receiving this prestigious award in oceanography