The new wave of oceanographers: Alexandre Barboni

PhD student investigating the interactions between the atmosphere and meso and fine scales in the ocean.

C-SWOT-2023: Surveying a front with Lagrangian buoys and cytometer

After a port call in Port-Mahon, R/V L'Atalante headed North under SWOT swath to survey a front with Lagrangian buoys and cytometer.

C-SWOT 2023 blog: C-SWOT – WEMSWOT companion campaigns at the mid-term point

Last week-end, after ten days of companion navigation, the R/V L'Atalante and the R/V Tethys II met in Mahon (Minorca) for a joint port call. These two experiments at sea are part of a wider observation strategy concomitant with the fast-sampling phase of SWOT satellite. They are focused on an area characterized by small mesoscale structure (O(40km)) in a weak internal wave environment more prone to exhibit clear mesoscale signal.

C-SWOT 2023: Observing the water column with two measuring devices

In the ocean, the water column is characterized by many parameters such as density, temperature, salinity, number of particles or chlorophyll, pressure... All these parameters are modulated by local currents. Therefore, it is necessary to collect data at certain fixed positions to study the properties of the water column. For this purpose, two specific measuring devices have been deployed at common locations to collect information on the water column.

C-SWOT-2023: Joining R/V Tethys II for common transects under SWOT swath

On Tuesday March 29th, the R/V Tethys II joined the C-SWOT campaign and will provide measurements in parallel with R/V Atalante until the end of the cruise.

C-SWOT-2023: SeaSoar measurement aborted by a Mistral blow, but nice acoustic transect !

On Saturday March 26th, the R/V L’Atalante started a first transect of the Gulf of Lion, from Marseille to Menorca. The plan was to deploy a towed instrument, the SeaSoar, together with acoustic Doppler velocimeters on the ship. The SeaSoar is equipped with Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) probes. Mechanically, it is able to tilt its wings to dive up and down profiling the water column up to 400m depth. The data are collected in real time through

C-SWOT-2023: Life onboard R/V L’Atalante

C-SWOT campaign already started few days ago, and since Toulon we already sampled the Cassidaigne canyon offshore Marseille and its beautiful cliffs at sunset. We did not count working hours to sample the canyon, but lots of measurements were obtained and the view was worth it !

C-SWOT-2023: Sampling the Cassidaigne canyon with moorings

The first part of the C-SWOT campaign is dedicated to measurements in the Cassidaigne submarine canyon, located in the Gulf of Lion, Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, 7 km off Marseilles. By Lénaïg Brun Presentation of the Cassidaigne canyon The Cassidaigne submarine canyon is located in a very active circulation area. First, the water masses are forced by strong westerly (Mistral) or easterly wind events which may generate upwelling or downwelling processes in the canyon. Second, the Northern Current,

C-SWOT-2023 blog: Kick off for the C-SWOT campaign!

C-SWOT is joint cooperative mission between SHOM and Ifremer, that plans to first study the Cassidaigne Canyon just offshore Marseille, and then sail between Marseille and Menorca right under the SWOT satellite swath.

The new wave of oceanographers: Margot Demol

Margot Demol is a PhD student investigating ocean circulation and surface dynamics at fine scales.