Diatoms - Life in glass houses
Champions of photosynthesis, these unicellular organisms appeared at the time of dinosaurs.They produce a quarter of the oxygen we breathe.
Large rosette sampler used in the "World Ocean Circulation Experiment". This rosette has 36 10-liter Niskin bottles, an acoustic pinger (lower left), an "LADCP" current profiler (yellow long tube at the center), a CTD (horizontal instrument at the bottom), and transmissometer (yellow short tube at the center). (Photo : L. Talley)
Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)
Plankton
Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Dinoflagellés Ceratium massiliense var protuberans (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Carte de la camapagne du navire oceanographique James COOK
Le trajet du bateau sur fond couleur de la mer.
Phytoplankton bloom observed in the Barents Sea (North of Norway) in August 2010 by the ocean color sensor MODIS onboard NASA satellite Aqua. Changes in ocean color result from modifications in the phytoplankton composition and concentration. The green colors are likely associated with the presence of diatoms. The shades of light blue result from the occurrence of coccolithophores, phytoplankton organisms that strongly reflect light due to their chalky shells - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
Prélèvements d'eau des mésocosmes pour analyses, lors de l'expérience menée en Corse en juin/juillet 2012 (© A. Ree, PML)
Salpes - La vie enchaînée
Bien que d’apparence primitive, les salpes sont de proches ancêtres des poissons. Lorsque les algues abondent, les salpes prolifèrent en de longues chaînes d’individus clonés.
Rosette used to collect seawater samples during a scientific cruise in the South Pacific Ocean. (Photo : Joséphine Ras)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium gravidum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the global ocean.
Appendicularia Oikopleura dioica (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Scientists collecting seawater samples from the rosette (Photo : Stacy Knapp, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Appendiculaires - Ils vivent dans leurs filets
L’appendiculaire, proche ancêtre des vertébrés, fabrique des logettes aux filtres délicats à la fois résidence et filet de pêche.
Acantharia (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Colony of salps Salpa fusiformis (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
