KASEAOPE-1 Scientific Cruise
The KASEAOPE-1 cruise took place on the research vessel Antéa, departing from Noumea, in May 2023. It was led by Karine Olu and Clément Vic, two Ifremer researchers, with colleagues from the JAMSTEC and IRD.
During this cruise, we deployed several scientific equipment on the North slope and the top of Mount Stylaster, located 100 Nautical Miles South of Noumea. The deployment, planned for 1 year to a maximum of 18 months, will allow acquisitions in parallel with the moorings deployed by the SWOT scientific programme during the SWOT-ALIS cruise.
A mooring line, 800m long, designed and developed by Ifremer, will measure temperature, salinity, currents, oxygen concentration and turbidity. An echo sounder will be used to evaluate the quantity of biomass in the water column and to provide information on the vertical migrations of the mesopelagic organisms that make it up. A particle trap will be used to estimate the vertical fluxes of carbon and nitrogen and to collect benthic invertebrate larvae likely to colonise the mounts.
Several of these sensors are integrated into a "mid-depth level" apparatus, dedicated to synchronising and recording the data of the different sensors. This apparatus was designed and developed specifically for this operation.
A first bottom station, "EDOKKO", designed by Cross-ministrial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) in collaboration with JAMSTEC, was deployed simultaneously on the summit of the Stylaster mount. It is equipped with several video cameras to identify and count mobile fauna such as fish, and to study the interactions between species. A prototype environmental DNA sampler, designed and developed by JAMSTEC, will complete the characterisation of organisms in the water column and will be settled on the mooring line.
Read the press release on the KASEAOPE-1 cruise here.