IFREMER : French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, through its research work and expert advice, contributes to knowledge of the oceans and their resources, to monitoring of marine and coastal environments and to the sustainable development of marine activities. To these ends, Ifremer conceives and operates tools for observation, experimentation and monitoring, and manage the oceanographic databases. Ifremer undertakes research missions, offers expert advice and acts as a funding agency. Ifremer performs targeted applied research to address the questions posed by society (climate change effects, marine biodiversity, pollution prevention, seafood quality etc.). The «Marine Geosciences» (GM) Research Unit at Ifremer is one of the oldest of the institute. Since its creation, GM has improved its performances in fundamental and applied scientific research at an international level in nearly all domains of marine geosciences. The Laboratory of “Sediment Dynamics and Geohazards” (LAD) who will be co-leading this project, is one of the 3 research laboratories of GM. LAD is a multidisciplinary laboratory which conducts applied and fundamental research in the fields of geotechnics, geophysics (including seismology), geology and sedimentology in order to characterize the intensity, the distribution in time and space of marine geological hazards and their association to a variety of external key factors (earthquakes, fluid migration, gas hydrates…).
Géoazur (UMR 7329 CNRS)
Géoazur is a multi-disciplinary joint research unit supported by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Institute for Research and Development (IRD) in partnership with the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (UNS), the Côte d’Azur Observatory (OCA), and the Sorbonne University (Paris). Géoazur was created in 1996 through a merger of geoscientists from the prior Marine Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer (UPMC) and the University of Nice. It is a laboratory of 170 persons focused on research in the Geosciences via combined analyses of the Earth, Ocean and Space. Research addresses major societal stakes, including seismic, gravitational and tsunami hazards, and changes in global sea level. Géoazur activities contribute to the observation missions of OCA, which serves the scientific community through dedicated centres for geodesy, seismology, and laser telemetry. The marine geosciences team at Géoazur has over 20 years of experience of offshore investigations, mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. These studies have developed a wide-ranging expertise in marine geology and geophysics, focusing on active seabed processes (submarine failures, faults and fluid seeps). Géoazur holds a suite of software packages for the acquisition, processing and interpretation of marine geophysical data, as well as GIS spatial databases. Géoazur holds a large dataset from the Ligurian basin and the Nice-airport area, including digital geophysical data (multibeam bathymetry and backscatter, seismic reflection profiles of varying penetration and resolution, sidescan sonar imagery) and cores.
MARUM : Bremen University
MARUM at the University of Bremen aims to investigate the ocean in the Earth system, with a main focus of seafloor dynamics and the transitional zones between the oceans and the continents. MARUM is a cooperative facility at the University of Bremen offering a number of technical and scientific services and developing innovative technology in support for scientific operations. MARUM also hosts one out of three IODP core repositories with >150 km of core from DSDP times to present. All mission-specific sampling parties are also hosted at MARUM Bremen, and visitors from all over the world visits the IODP Bremen Core Repository regularly. Within the last decade MARUM became one of the leading groups in Germany and Europe to develop and operate sophisticated equipment for marine science applications. Different technology projects with the aim of data transmission (underwater acoustics and satellite communication) and sensor developments (buoyancy driven carrier systems, optical sensors, camera systems, CPT lances) were carried out. A deep-sea ROV system (ALSTHOM-Schilling) with a maximum deployment depth of 4000 m with additional scientific payload, a deep sea AUV (5000 m) equipped with high-resolution sonar mapping systems, and the MeBo seafloor drill rigs (70 m and 200m subbottom drilling capability in up to 2500 m water depth) are among the fleet of seagoing technology. One of the permanent tasks of MARUM lies in the maintenance of the scientific information system PANGAEA (Network for Geological and Environmental Data), which is a system for acquisition, processing, long term storage, and publication of georeferenced data related to earth science fields.