Page 68 - Livre_MOW2022_EN

66 | SOLUTIONS FOR THE OCEAN / INNOVATIONS

Hervé Claustre
Oceanographer at the Laboratory of Oceanography
in Villefranche-sur-Mer, CNRS Silver Medal,
Co-Manager of the BGC-Argo biogeochemical
mission of the One Argo programme (BGC Argo)

ning to gain an increasingly better understanding of
the ocean’s living dimension, always with the aim of
enhancing our expertise on how it functions. An inter-
national leader, our laboratory was involved in the tech-
nological development of the new sensors, the science
conducted thanks to these measurements and in the
organisation of this international programme.
Has the programme already allowed you to ob-
serve ocean changes which have not occurred for One of the parameters of BGC Argo is the colour
hundreds of thousands of years? of the ocean. Are satellite data not sufficient?
Yes, absolutely. The changes we have observed, all re- The greener the ocean, the richer it is in chlorophyll
lated to increased levels of CO and greenhouse gases which is the characteristic pigment of phytoplankton
2
in the atmosphere, have never occurred in the history (or plant plankton). The bluer it is, the poorer it is in
of humanity. That is why it is vital to have an observa- phytoplankton. By analysing this parameter, we can
tion network which can document the effects of these therefore determine if we have a desert ocean or one
disturbances to the ocean. We are already in a critical rich in plankton, and therefore potentially in food re-
phase, but it is only by increasing observations and sources via the food chain for which it is the starting
measurements that we will be able to provide both re- point. Satellites can only observe the first 20 to 30
gional and global information with increasing accuracy, metres of the ocean. Subsequently, BGC Argo floaters
and thus help to raise the alert more effectively about are complementary to satellite observation because
the changes under way. they give us information on the amount of chlorophyll.

What is the role of the Laboratory of Oceanogra-
phy in Villefranche-sur-Mer in the One Argo ad- “Thanks to the Argo
venture? programme, we have
The laboratory became involved approximately ten realised that the ocean
years following the launch of Argo in 2010. We gra-
dually added biogeochemical sensors to robots mea- absorbs over 95% of excess
suring water temperature and salinity between the sur- heat related to human
face and 2 kilometres deep, which document ocean
health status, the functioning of ocean ecosystems activities.”
and their impact on the carbon cycle. By diversifying
the measurements using 6 new parameters within the
framework of the BGC Argo mission, we are begin-