MoMARSAT 21 Campaign

Our MIO colleague, Céline Rommevaux (MEB team) participated in the MoMARSAT 21 campaign on board the N.O. L'ATALANTE and the submersible NAUTILE from May 15 to June 21, 2021 (Toulon-Brest). This campaign has successfully maintained the EMSO-Açores underwater observatory, deployed since 2010 at the Lucky Strike hydrothermal site on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge south of the Azores. During this campaign, C. Rommevaux reinstalled during a Nautile dive, the CISICS microbial colonizer/fluid collector, at the level of the Eiffel Tower hot fluid outlet. This colonizer, connected to the observatory node, allows the transmission of temperature data inside the colonizer (between 50 and 100°C since its deployment) and the triggering of 8 fluid samples and its associated microbial communities during the year of deployment. This campaign also allowed to take samples of iron oxide rich mats which are being monitored since 2016, according to the environmental variations in Fe and O2.