Crab larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Gelatinous plankton Mneniopsis  (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

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)

Coccolithophore  (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium fusus (Photo : Sophie Marro)

World ocean currents map

Foraminifera   (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Foraminifera Ruber (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)

Acantharia (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Ocean color satellites travel around the Earth at an altitude of about 700 to 800 km.

Dinoflagellate Ceratium ranipes grd mains (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Average chlorophyll concentration in the surface ocean (from mi-September 1997 to August 2007) from the ocean color sensor SeaWiFS (NASA). Subtropical gyres, in the center of the oceanic basins, are characterized by very low concentrations of chlorophyll a (dark blue) - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)

Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium falcatum (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Villefranche-sur-Mer in stormy weather, winter 2011 - Photo : J.-M. Grisoni