SSLA@MM - Sea Waters Sensing Laboratory @MIO Marseille
SSLA@MM, a laboratory for the continuous monitoring of chemical and biogeochemical variables, and a nursery for the development and application of new automated, low-energy sensors.
The pelagic marine environment is a complex and dynamic ecosystem, either because of the physical movements of the water masses that drive the biological and chemical distributions on a scale of one minute to one hundred metres, or because of the processes linked to the rapid interactions between planktonic micro-organisms and their physiological activities.
Innovative, automated sensors are being developed to monitor the marine environment, particularly its biological and chemical properties, with the ultimate aim of being deployed on autonomous, isolated platforms (buoys). The SSL@MM laboratory plans to pump seawater continuously into the bay of Marseille (Endoume Marine Station, Anse aux Cuivres creeks), not only to monitor the dynamics of the ecosystem using sensors already in the autonomy phase and present at the MIO, but also to enable sensors currently being developed and automated to pass the testing and validation phases under optimum conditions, with access to a natural environment while working under laboratory conditions.
The SSL@MM will therefore be a platform open to the outside world, welcoming scientists as well as private companies who want to study and consolidate, compare and integrate information from their sensors with existing ones, and surrounded by scientific expertise.
Scientific Committee
- Melilotus Thyssen
- Lars-Eric Heimburger
- Gerald Gregori
- Dominique Lefèvre
Engineering and technical manager : Olivier Grosso
Le SSL@MM is 4 years old!
In September 2023, the SSL@MM (Sea Water Sensing Laboratory @ MIO Marseille, MIO's technical platform), run by Olivier Grosso and Melilotus Thyssen, and recently by Clémentine Gallot (CNRS IR CDD), has celebrated its 4th year of operation and is now part of MIO's shared technical resources. The continuous and gentle pumping of seawater from the Calanque aux Cuivres to taps under laboratory conditions is a success, validated by its almost continuous operation. Similarly, the method of cleaning the seawater inlet pipes is a well-managed routine. The high-frequency, long-term strategy enables the diurnal and seasonal cycles of a coastal marine ecosystem to be studied, and aims to capture the effects of impulse events such as gales, storms and rainfall on phytoplankton communities, certain chemical and hydrological elements, and their transformation products.