<p>The multi-annual partnership-based research programme SPIRAL (deep seismic and regional investigation in northern Algeria) aims to study the deep structure of the North Algerian margin using "high penetration" seismic methods: low frequency vertical reflection shooting, as well as wide angle reflection and refraction with deployment of listening stations on the seabed and onshore. The first strand of the SPIRAL programme SPIRAL involves the sea cruise to acquire geophysical data. This cruise took place aboard RV L'Atalante in two legs, respectively from 26/09 (Oran) to 10/10 2009 (Annaba) and from 13/10 (Annaba) to 10/11 2009 (Oran). These two legs provided acquisition of wide-angle seismic and penetrating multichannel seismic reflection data, which was the main objective of the project, as well as additional data like very high resolution (Chirp or sediment sounder type), magnetic and gravimetric, and multibeam bathymetric echosounder data. The profiles acquired during SPIRAL should supply elements to characterize the structural levels in and under the sediment cover (crust) down to the mantle in the targeted zones given in the cruise report; obtain accurate images of faulted and folded area and the major boundaries like the Moho; constrain the physical and rheological properties (particularly velocity models) which should help determine things like the nature of the crust at the continent-ocean transition. These constraints will make it possible to perform thermo-mechanical modelling on the scale of the Maghrebide belts to the base of the crust (temperature, density) and thus specify the main boundaries of the large crustal domains.</p>
Studying the role played by formation of deep water in the chemical composition and budgets of matter in the Mediterranean. Understanding the relationships between the way plankton food webs are organized and the hydrodynamic structures. The related project is MISTRALS - MerMEX.
Campaign GENESIS 2 "Pen Duick/Melilla", the second of three ROV campaigns, will focus on "Pen Duick Escarpment" in the Gulf of Cadiz or on the recently discovered "Melilla mounds" in the South-East Alboran Sea (Mediterranean Sea). The final choice of the study area will depend on the results of the TTR17 cruise with R/V Logachev (June-July 2008) and the R/V Marion Dufresne cruise (June 2008). One of these study areas will be surveyed using multibeam, side-scan sonar and high resolution seismics. Based on this site survey, the ROV Genesis will be deployed to carry out detailed mapping. Also the hydrography and sediment dynamics of the area will be studied with respect to the steering of the present ecosystems. GENESIS 2 takes place in the framework of the European projects HERMES (EC FP6), MiCROSYSTEMS (ESF) and HERMIONE (EC FP7).
<p>MOOSE-GE aims at 1) ensuring the maintenance of offshore French Mediterranean moorings and 2) carrying out an annual mapping of hydrological, biogeochemical and biological characteristics of the whole north-western basin. The related project are MERMEX, HYMEX, MISTRALS and MOOSE.</p>
The objective of this project is the investigation of the structure and functioning of different CWC successional habitats (living, dead and buried corals), in order to understand the response of the CWC to a changing ocean. Therefore, we identified 4 specific objectives which will allow us to get insight in the distribution of these CWC habitats (objective 1), the responsible environmental drivers (objective 2), the associated (molecular and morphological) biodiversity (objective 3) and the connectivity between distinct CWC habitats at different spatial scales (objective 4). We will concentrate our study on the Bay of Biscay by providing multiple-scale analysis of habitat mapping, environmental characterisation, biodiversity patterns and processes of interconnectivity. However, comparisons will be made through European-US collaboration with other regions at both sides of the Atlantic in order to understand amphi- and trans-Atlantic distribution patterns and processes. This project is part of the 7th EC Framework Programme Hermione (Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man's Impact On European Seas) (2011-2013).This monitoring project aims to execute a continuous research on the effects of the exploitation of non-living resources of the territorial sea and the continental shelf on the sedimentary movements and the marine environment (Law of 13 June 1969 on the exploration and exploitation of non-living resources of the territorial sea and the continental shelf). Belgian national research program.
Acoustic measurements.
Characterizing the variability of hydrological and current features and particulate fluxes on the continental rise of the Gulf of Lion and in the deep convection zone. Monitoring of deep benthic communities in the western canyons and on the continental rise of the Gulf of Lion.
SHOM cruise aboard the Pourquoi Pas?
The objectives of the BELMER project are: - to validate the MERIS water products for Belgian coastal waters and neighbouring French, UK and Dutch waters - to provide a quantitative statement of product accuracy and recommendations for improvements in the scientific algorithms, where appropriate. In particular the problems reported by the MERIS validation and user communities of turbid water atmospheric correction, case 2 water chlorophyll retrieval, adjacency effects (straylight), moderate sunglint, spatio-temporal variability of specific inherent optical properties and bottom reflectance will be addressed. This project is funded by the "PROgramme for the Development of scientific Experiments" (PRODEX) of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Assessment of chemical contamination in coastal water masses (Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Sicily canal), using artificial stations of mussels. The MYTILOS1 cruise aimed to utilize the RINBIO network methodology around the western Mediterranean, in the northern part of the NW Basin. Experiments run in the French Mediterranean since 1996 by IFREMER were to be extended to Southern Mediterranean coasts, i.e. Spanish, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian coasts, as well as the Sicily Canal in Italy, on the basis of a standardized protocol. The data from MYTILOS2 cruise will supplement those obtained in 2004 and 2005 during the RINBIOC1 and MYTILOS1 cruises by including the coasts of North Africa, Southern Spain and the island of Pantelleria. In addition, the results will be used to complement the chemical contamination budget drawn up in the framework of the European Water Framework Directive's implementation. The survey was based on 2 major actions: 1) Artificial mussel stations were placed and recovered along a shoreline between Malaga (Spain) and Sicily (Italy), including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. 2) Sediment samples in addition to mussels samples were taken upon the partners' request. This falls under the MEDICIS project.