Development of new tools for in situ measurements and to identify precursors to submarine landslides

Penfeld penetrometer

In the frame of the ANR MODAL project (Task 2), Ifremer is in charge of the development of a new in situ instrument called “TIPS” (Temperature, Inclination and Pressure Sensors) to measure the evolution of pore pressures and deformation in the sediment with the aim of identifying landslide precursors prior to failure events. Continuer la lecture de « Development of new tools for in situ measurements and to identify precursors to submarine landslides »

Numerical modeling to evaluate the probability of slope failure

New long-term instrument tested offshore Nice Airport

Radon (Rn) probe KATARINAOne key objective in the MODAL long-term monitoring approach is to identify possible links between groundwater flow through coarse-grained marine sediments and their associated leaching of clays which supposedly weakens the latter and may cause sediment creep and, eventually, failure. The instrument to identify and possibly quantify such groundwater seepage is the Radon (Rn) probe KATARINA, a prototype of which was recently purchased by MARUM. The innovative, one-of-its-kind marine Rn instrument developed by HCMR Athens monitors radioactivity in fluids and will be a powerful means in assessing whether elevated Rn content, a proxy that will unravel effects of transients Var river discharge or non-confined aquifer activity, will positively correlate with elevated pore P transients measured by the IFREMER piezometers. Continuer la lecture de « New long-term instrument tested offshore Nice Airport »

Marum German institute selected to access EMSO-Nice cabled observatory

Instruments that will be connected by Marum German Institute on the Nice observatory in the framework of EMSO-Link TNA: seismo-piezometer rod (left), Radon probe (right) and CTD (not sketched). Source: A. Kopf, Marum

Marum’s application was validated on November 27, 2018, by an expert panel: the German institute will connect several instruments on the EMSO-Nice cabled observatory, proposed for Transnational Access (TNA) to European research or industrial teams in the framework of EMSO-Link project. Continuer la lecture de « Marum German institute selected to access EMSO-Nice cabled observatory »

New Investigation in the Frame of the MODAL Project

A wall of screens for the acquisition of bathymetric and water column data using the multibeam systems ME70 and EM2040 during the Fluid3D campaign aboard the R/V L’Europe
A wall of screens for the acquisition of bathymetric and water column data using the multibeam systems ME70 and EM2040 during the Fluid3D campaign aboard the R/V L’Europe

During the Fluid3D campaign (november 2018, R/V L’Europe), a new investigation of both seafloor morphology and water column was done between 10 and 300 m water depth in the frame of the MODAL project by using the ME70 and EM2040 multibeam systems. New DTMs with a horizontal resolution of 2 to 1 m were made. Continuer la lecture de « New Investigation in the Frame of the MODAL Project »