The Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology renews its observation devices in Friuli

The City of Marseille has approved the renewal of the precarious occupation agreement of the Institut Méditerranéen d'Océanologie (MIO) which, through atmospheric fallout collectors installed on the island of Frioul, ensures a mission of observation of the terrestrial and marine environment.

Since 2006, the Marseille Oceanology Center (COM), which has become the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology (MIO), has been taking care of the atmospheric fallout collectors installed on the semaphore of Pomègues on the island of Frioul, thanks to a free precarious occupation agreement.

During the city council meeting of Friday, July 9, elected officials approved the renewal of this agreement to continue to ensure a mission of observation of the environment in the long term and to house more specific scientific experiments to increase knowledge on the islands of Marseille.

A contribution to the monitoring of the regional ecosystem

Integrated into national observation networks accredited by the CNRS and implemented by the atmosphere/sea department of the MIO, these devices collect dust and rainwater separately and can indeed complete the monitoring of the regional ecosystem with "atmospheric inputs to the sea, temperature, salinity and current measurements at the southern limit of the bay of Marseille, as well as meteorological measurements, UV radiation in the marine environment," says Hervé Menchon, deputy in charge of marine biodiversity.

To optimize this observation mission, it is therefore planned this year to replace the MTX type atmospheric collector with a new identical machine. An additional high-volume sampler for ambient air will also be installed to filter the air and take more samples. An operator from the Institute collects the samples every week, which are then processed and analyzed.