Ten underwater gliders were put into the water this week off Villefranche-sur-Mer. An unprecedented scientific operation conducted by the CNRS and French researchers to analyze the Mediterranean and its evolution, with a mission that must continue to French Polynesia.
A fleet of ten underwater gliders was launched off Villefranche-sur-Mer, in the Alpes-Maritimes. These scientific devices must make it possible to collect data on the Mediterranean for about a month, before later continuing certain missions to French Polynesia.
These « SeaExplorer » were presented this week at the oceanographic laboratory in Villefranche-sur-Mer before being launched. Elongated in shape, yellow and orange, these machines of 2.50 meters for 65 kilos can almost be confused with torpedoes. But these are gliders dedicated to scientific research, designed and operated by the Alseamar company.
Up to 1,000 meters deep
Temperature, salinity, underwater currents, plankton concentration or noise in the water: the on-board sensors make it possible to multiply measurements. Once submerged, these machines dive up to 1,000 meters deep thanks to a ballast system, before going up to transmit their data by satellite antenna.
« We retrieve the data and we can send them new instructions remotely, » explains Laurent Beguery, scientific director of Alseamar. Each device has an autonomy of up to three months.
The originality of this campaign lies in the simultaneous deployment of ten gliders, a first on this scale, allowing network work to observe fine phenomena such as oceanic vortices, which are difficult to detect by satellite. The machines will evolve in coordination between the Côte d’Azur and Corsica, with the ultimate objective of contributing to the development of an environmental atlas of the Mediterranean.
source : radio france
