The COCAS project aims to fill a major void in the global system for observing and studying Climate Change and its Impacts (CC&I) on the world's coasts, and thus meeting the expectations of the Green Pact of Europe in terms of infrastructure for advanced observation and monitoring of the climate / environment (Green Deal, Topic 9.1). It brings together scientists from Europe and so-called “Southern” Atlantic and Mediterranean countries, around the most complete and modern platforms currently existing for long-term and high-precision measurements of key physics parameters. , biogeochemistry and marine biology of coastal areas. These measures are not shared internationally, which delays progress on CC&I measurement and forecasting. The COCAS group will dedicate itself to making its data easily accessible internally and externally, to homogenize the sensors and modernize them, to reinforce internal cohesion and share expertise within the network and with the community and public and private end users . Anchored air-sea buoys, CC&I sentinels in coastal marine regions. Compared to the global ocean, the coastal marine space is more productive, responds more intensely to disturbances, and is in direct contact with human populations. This makes it an essential source of resources and services, changes in which under the effect of CC&I are essential to monitor by key quantity measurements, at the air-sea interface and below the surface. The ANR COCAS network will offer Europe leadership on a new infrastructure, made up of Coastal Anchored Buoys (BACs), existing beyond its borders in the coastal areas of less developed countries neighboring Europe. This will complement the transnational networks of LACs from developed, European (ERI JERICO3) and international deep-sea countries in the Atlantic-Pacific tropics (PIRATA and TAO programs). A European infrastructure to monitor the evolution and impacts of climate change in the southern coastal marine environment in the decades to come. In the southern coastal regions, the lack of reliable data requires a multidisciplinary international mobilization, to describe a “zero” state using reference points, dedicated to oceanic and atmospheric parameters, whose knowledge is key to validate forecasts. local and global climatic conditions and assess the impacts. Nineteen BACs have been deployed “to the South”, by the members of the project (Atlantic, Mediterranean and East Pacific basins). The members of the group have started to work together since the beginning of 2017 and the collective has strong technical and basic and applied research. This is the case not only in environmental sciences and human and social sciences. but also in particular for partnerships with local and international companies, the use of substantial financial and human resources, and the development of links with the local industrial and institutional fabric, allowing the dissemination of information to governments and the public about Coastal CC&I. Three structuring objectives. The members of the 16 countries (4 European, 11 in the South and the USA) of the project are committed to working on the three pillars of an EU Infrastructure network: coordination and sharing of expertise internally as well as with the rest of the community, standardization and innovations for quality platforms and data, and easy access for internal and external users. Partnerships are established (see scientific committee) for the integration into the landscape of existing ERIs. To achieve this, the work will consist of animations such as webinars, annual meetings, and bi-monthly videoconferences aimed at creating a common database and coordinating the drafting of the EU Infrastructure project.

Climate change has triggered fundamental modifications of marine biotopes in the Arctic Ocean (AO). The decrease in the extent of the ice pack during summer has led to a 20% increase in pan-Arctic primary production (PP) over the last decade. Phytoplankton blooms now occur earlier in several parts of the AO. In other parts, the structure of the phytoplankton community is shifting toward smaller species, typical of more oligotrophic conditions and some species found in warmer waters now migrate into the Arctic Ocean. Phytoplankton grow in the top tens of meters of both ice-free and ice-covered waters. The phytoplankton spring bloom (PSB) that develops at the ice-edge accounts for >50% of annual primary production in the AO, and is generally associated with both large energy transfer to higher trophic levels and export of carbon to the bottom. As well, the culture, health and economic capacity building of Northerners are closely associated with marine resources supported by the PSB. The Arctic PSB develops in the seasonally-covered ice zone (SIZ), the extent of which is expected to increase significantly during the next years, possibly over the whole AO as early as in 2030. How the PSB will actually evolve in this context is unknown. Will it span over the entire AO, and thereby make the AO ecosystems more productive? Will the ongoing modifications in physical properties of the AO rather limit the PSB and PP in general? How will biodiversity respond to and/or impact on those changes? To be able to answer these questions, it is necessary to understand in great detail and quantitatively the physical, chemical and biological processes involved in the preconditioning, development and decline of the PSB. Because this is a transient phenomenon occurring in a remote, complex and harsh environment, such a detailed understanding has not yet been achieved. The general objective of this research project is to understand the dynamics of the PSB and determine its role in the Arctic Ocean of tomorrow, including for human populations. More specifically, we want to 1) understand the key physical, chemical and biological processes that govern the PSB, 2) identify the key phytoplankton species involved in the PSB and model their growth under various environmental conditions, and 3) predict the fate of the PSB and related carbon transfer through the food web and toward the bottom sediments over the next decades. First, a PSB event will be monitored during 2015 in the Baffin Bay from its onset under melting sea ice in May to its conclusion within the seasonal ice zone in July. The distribution of relevant physical, chemical and biological properties will be described at various time and space scales using a fleet of profiling floats and gliders and an autonomous underwater vehicle, all equipped with a suite of physical and bio-optical sensors. Process studies will be conducted from an ice camp and then from a research icebreaker to document phytoplankton growth, nutrient assimilation and the transfer of carbon through the food web and toward the sediment. Second, key phytoplankton species will be isolated and grown in the laboratory under various conditions to model their response to environmental factors and to understand their succession during spring. Third, a coupled physical-biological model will be optimized for simulating the PSB in the Arctic Ocean and for predicting changes in phytoplankton communities and food web dynamics. In parallel, past and present trends in the intensity and spatial distribution of the PSB will be documented using a paleoceanography approach, and using remote sensing. Finally, interviews and bilateral discussion with local Inuit communities will enable the documentation of changing marine productivity from a social perspective and feed into a multi-scale integrated analysis of environment-human interactions.

Coccolithophores and planktonic foraminifera produce more than 90% of pelagic carbonates, thus being major actors in the global carbon cycle. Calcification of these unicellular organisms is known to be influenced by carbonate ion concentration and calcite saturation state of seawater as well as by other physico-chemical parameters. Carbon dioxide produced by human activities since the industrial revolution has already induced a decrease of ocean pH by about 0.1 units. The objective of CALHIS is to undertake the first very high-resolution evaluation of the impact of this pH drop on pelagic carbonate production. To this end, we have selected 3 categories of oceanic zones covering a wide range of carbonate ion concentration, calcification types and trophic levels: (1) the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas with waters with high carbonate ion concentration, oligotrophy, and organisms with well calcified shells; (2) the north Papuan coast and Patagonian shelf with lower carbonate concentration, higher nutrient levels and lightly calcified shells; (3) the Eastern Pacific margin (Peru and Mexico) characterized by upwelled waters with high nutrient levels and such low carbonate ion concentration and pH that coccolithophores would be predicted to no longer calcify, although some in fact exhibit highly calcified shells. In each of these zones, we have privileged access to research vessels for sampling. We will lead or participate in mini-cruises in each of these coastal areas in order to retrieve surface sediment cores that record the history of sedimentation of the last centuries and to collect water samples from the photic zone to establish present-day relationships between calcification and carbonate chemistry, through genetic, morphological and physico-chemical analyses. A range of coccolithophore genotypes and morphotypes will be isolated into laboratory culture in order to quantify eco-physiological tolerances and calibrate specific biomarkers. From well-dated (14C/ 210Pb) sediments, we will establish records of the state of calcification of foraminifera and coccolithophores, temperature, d13C, concentrations of specific biomarkers, and relative abundance of coccolithophore morphotypes and, when possible, genotypes (i.e. in anoxic sediments). These data will enable accurate quantification of changes in pelagic carbonate production over the last 300 years and determination of whether changes are related to recent global ocean acidification. This project is the logical continuation of a study recently published in Nature by most of the proponents of the proposal.

The ANR MEDSALT project aims to consolidate and expand a scientific network recently formed with the purpose to use scientific drilling to address the causes, timing, emplacement mechanisms and consequences of the largest and most recent 'salt giant' on Earth: the late Miocene (Messinian) salt deposit in the Mediterranean basin. After obtaining the endorsement of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) on a Multiplatform Drilling Proposal (umbrella proposal) in early 2015, the network is planning to submit a site-specific drilling proposal to drill a transect of holes with the R/V Joides Resolution in the evaporite-bearing southern margin of the Balearic promontory in the Western Mediterranean - the aim is to submit the full proposal before the IODP dealine of April 1st 2017, following the submission of a pre-proposal on October 1st 2015. Four key issues will be addressed: 1) What are the causes, timing and emplacement mechanisms of the Mediterranean salt giant ? 2) What are the factors responsible for early salt deformation and fluid flow across and out of the halite layer ? 3) Do salt giants promote the development of a phylogenetically diverse and exceptionally active deep biosphere ? 4) What are the mechanisms underlying the spectacular vertical motions inside basins and their margins ? Our nascent scientific network will consit of a core group of 22 scientists from 10 countries (7 European + USA + Japan + Israel) of which three french scientists (G. Aloisi, J. Lofi and M. Rabineau) play a leading role as PIs of Mediterranean drilling proposals developed within our initiative. Support to this core group will be provided by a supplementary group of 21 scientists that will provide critical knowledge in key areas of our project. The ANR MEDSALT network will finance key actions that include: organising a 43 participants workshops to strengthen and consolidate the Mediterranean drilling community, supporting the participation of network scientists to seismic well site-survey cruises, organising meetings in smaller groups to work on site survey data and finance trips to the US to defend our drilling proposal in front of the IODP Environmental Protection and Safety Panel (EPSP). The MEDSALT drilling initiative will impact the understanding of issues as diverse as submarine geohazards, sub-salt hydrocarbon reservoirs and life in the deep subsurface. This is a unique opportunity for the French scientific community to play a leading role, next to our international partners, in tackling one of the most intellectually challenging open problems in the history of our planet.

Marine mesozooplankton play a crucial role in the functioning of pelagic ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycles. It is very diverse from a taxonomic and phylogenetic point of view (e.g., giant protists, copepod, krill, small jellyfish, fish larvae), but also functionally (e.g., small vs. large organisms, herbivores who are filtering-courant feeders vs. carnivores who are ambush feeders, vertical migrations, lipid reserve production, etc.). Yet, the link between mesozooplankton diversity and ecosystem functioning remains poorly understood.? TRAITZOO aims to decipher this link using a trait-based approach and taking advantage of recent developments in high-throughput sequencing and imaging of marine plankton. Using already available data, that has been collected in various biogeographical provinces of the global ocean and covering wide environmental gradients, mostly collected by our consortium, we will use numerical ecology and machine learning tools to 1) provide new tools to study functional traits from imaging and transcriptomic data, 2) describe the biogeography of functional traits and identify the main drivers of mesozooplankton functional diversity, and 3) improve marine ecosystem models and develop new trait-based models to better quantify plankton-mediated carbon fluxes. Our consortium brings together experts in mesozooplankton ecology and physiology, marine biogeochemistry, and applied mathematics. Our skills cover plankton imaging, transcriptomics, metabarcoding, biogeochemical modelling, individual-based modelling, statistics, and machine learning.