Studying how ocean dynamics impact heat distribution and its evolution with climate change

Seeking to uncover the drivers of plankton diversity and distribution in the Mediterranean Sea

Gérald Grégori, BioSWOT-Med’s Co-Chief Scientist, describes the sampling strategy of the campaign and how it will allow gathering data to investigate the drivers of plankton diversity and distribution in the Mediterranean Sea by studying finescale features such as filaments or small eddies. Even if these structures are weak and short-lived (fed days) they can indeed strongly influence the microbial community.

Andrea Doglioli, BioSWOT-Med’s Chief Scientist, explains the objectives of the campaign and how he and his collaborators will try to disentangle the plankton paradox in the Mediterranean Sea by studying fine scales in the ocean. Results from the campaign will provide insights on the physical-biological coupling relevant for most of the global ocean.

Thanks to an international collaboration between IMEDEA, SOCIB, SCRIPPS, LOCEAN and MIO, the zooglider was deployed and started to sample the water masses south of the Balearic Islands, waiting to be recovered during the BioSWOT-Med campaign.

For the first time in oceanography, the fine scale landscape of sea surface height is revealed to our eyes.

Thanks to an exceptional work of the SWOT Project teams, some preliminary impressive images of SWOT-derived sea surface height and sigma0 are being already produced. The images are generated with non-validated beta products from the SWOT KaRIn instrument in support to AdAC campaigns for their planning strategies.

Article published on the Nature website - April 10, 2023

Microbiologist Gaël Erauso, MEB team of the MIO, studies deep-sea microorganisms to understand how they evolved from prebiotic organic molecules billions of years ago.

From February 20 to 26, 2023, the first year students of the Master of Marine Sciences participated in the traditional multidisciplinary mission at sea, on a ship of the French oceanographic fleet.

Aboard the Téthys II, an oceanographic vessel equipped to meet the needs of researchers in the fields of marine geosciences, physical and biological oceanography, bio-geochemistry and ocean chemistry, the students of the Master's degree in Marine Sciences (SDM) of the UFR Sciences and Techniques took samples off the coast of Saint-Tropez.

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This first annual Doctoral Students' Day was organized on April 5, 2023 to allow the young researchers of the MIO to present their research work.

It is also a privileged moment to gather the staff of the unit (scientific and administrative) in a studious and convivial atmosphere.

After the introductory speech of the MIO management, Gérald Grégori, DU Adjoint, the presentations of our PhD students' thesis topics took place all morning.
The afternoon was devoted to poster presentations and informal scientific discussions.

The new Moving Vessel Profiler and its Multi-Sensor Free Fall Fish (MVP-MSFFF, so-called “big fish”), is now ready for the BIOSWOT-Med cruise!

Many thanks to the Genavir DSM technical staff.
The MVP will allow to obtain high resolution vertical profiles of Temperature, Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen, Chlorophyll and Turbidity all along the vessel route.

The purchase of the new MSFFF has been funded by CNES-TOSCA, CPER, IRD and MIO.

At -31 days from the depart, the team of the BioSWOT-Med campaign installed the flow cytometer on the R/V Atalante. It will be one of two such instruments used during the campaign.