EMSO Ligure West - EMSO-LO
The EMSO-LO site, located at a depth of 2,500 m off the coast of Toulon, is part of the European infrastructure. EMSO-ERIC andEMSO France Research Infrastructure (European Multidisciplinary Subsea Observatory-European Research Infrastructure Consortium).
L'EMSO ERIC aims to collect long-term time series over 12 years across Europe in order to monitor the consequences of global change on heat content, ocean acidification, deoxygenation and deep-sea marine ecosystems. EMSO also aims to provide tool services for ecosystem management and mitigation.
L'EMSO France is a built or multidisciplinary research observatory, in real or delayed time, based on mooring lines and deep-sea observatories. EMSO-LO is supported by the MOOSE national observation service (IR ILICO).
EMSO-LO is dedicated to monitoring the water column, including hydrological properties, the dynamics of northern currents and their impact on the water column, and the effect of deep-sea convection in the western Mediterranean Sea on the properties and functioning of deep-sea ecosystems.
Linking surface production, particle fluxes and state variables to deduce ecosystem functioning using indicators such as bioluminescence and O2, and quantify the variability and dynamics of biological pumps.
BathyBot - A benthic robot to see the invisible in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea (EMSO-LO)
BathyBot is the benthic counterpart of the EMSO-LO infrastructure. This exploration robot is remotely operable, cabled and dedicated to the long-term monitoring of environmental variables in the deep sea (temperature, salinity, pressure and current), as well as biology, thanks to two different cameras, various coloured LEDs and a proximity imaging system (UVP-6). In particular, BathyBot will make it possible to see the bioluminescence emitted by marine organisms and gain a better understanding of its ecological role.
BathyReef will also be deployed alongside BathyBot, a bio-inspired coloniser based on the structure of marine sponges, with modules produced using 3D printing.
Currently in the test phase, in the dock, it will be deployed on the EMSO-LO site. This mission will take place at the end of 2021-beginning of 2022 from the M/O Pourquoi Pas? and will be connected thanks to the Nautile submarine.
