Illustration in synthesized images of the seasons of the ocean: a year from the Antarctic - Animation Clement Fontana
Gelatinous plankton Pelagia and Ctenophores (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Plankton
Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Satellite observation (GEOS-12) of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 in the Gulf of Mexico - Source : NASA-NOAA
Underwater glider (Photo : David Luquet)
Ptéropodes - Mollusques qui nagent
Les papillons des mers construisent de fragiles coquilles. Résisteront-elles à l’acidification des océans?
Appendicularia Oikopleura dioica (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Siphonophores - The longest animals on the planet
Cousins of corals, siphonophores are colonies of specialized individuals called zoids. Some catch and digest their prey, others swim, or lay eggs or sperm.
Scientists collecting seawater samples from the rosette (Photo : Stacy Knapp, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Profiling float (Photo : David Luquet)
Jellyfish Leuckaztiara octona (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Amphipode crustacean (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Embryos and larvae
Drifting in the currents, embryos and larvae perpetuate the species and are food for multitudes.
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
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)
Instrumented buoy (Photo : David Luquet)
Ciliate (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Krill (Photo : Fabien Lombard)