Instrumented buoy (Photo : Emilie Diamond)

Rosette for collecting seawater samples

Rosette used to collect seawater samples during a scientific cruise in the South Pacific Ocean. During the austral summer, the amount of chlorophyll a is so low that the water becomes deep blue, almost purple. (Photo : Joséphine Ras)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium ranipes grd mains (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium carriense var volans (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Foraminifera Ruber (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Elephant seal equipped with a sensor

Dinoflagellate Ceratium paradoxides (Photo : Sophie Marro)

Vue sous-marine d'un groupe de mésocosmes montrant un plongeur récoltant les pièges à sediment (© Stareso)

Dinoflagellate Ceratium azoricum (Photo : Sophie Marro)

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

Ostracodes  (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Gelatinous plankton salpes and Beroe (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the global ocean.

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)