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.
Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the Mediterranean Sea.
Phytoplankton bloom observed by the ocean color sensor MODIS onboard NASA satellite Terra in May 2010. The bloom spreads broadly in the North Atlantic from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
The various components of a profiling float type PROVOR
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)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
Foraminifera Orbulina universa and mollusk larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Annelid worm (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Acantharia (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium gravidum (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Siphonophores - The longest animals on the planet
Cousins of corals, siphonophores are colonies of specialized individuals called zoids. Some catch and digest their prey, others swim, or lay eggs or sperm.
This video describes how to perform the Ludion experiment and explains the physical processes involved.
Les Dinoflagellés - Ceratium gravidum
Ceratium gravidum dont en voit parfaitement les mouvements d’un des deux flagelles.
Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the global ocean.
Elephant seal equipped with a sensor
Embryos and larvae
Drifting in the currents, embryos and larvae perpetuate the species and are food for multitudes.
Siphonophores Forskalia formosa (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Satellite observation (GEOS-12) of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 in the Gulf of Mexico - Source : NASA-NOAA
