Mercator Ocean

The seventh continent is not a paradise island lost in the ocean. This is actually a giant floating trash somewhere in the middle of the Pacific.
 In this region, a big gyre catches continually drifting objects. Try to imagine the amount of rubbish that make up this continent…You are far from this: its size is estimated to six times the size of France, up to 30m deep.

The first French expedition:

This year, a French expedition wants to explore this continent. MyOcean, Mercator Ocean and the CNES are partners and actors of this adventure.

During the expedition, Mercator Ocean will provide currents and SSH forecasts on the area.

Follow the expedition with the Argonautica project:

A CNES educational project called Argonautica, framed by Daniele De Staercke can make young people aware of major environmental issues through the use of satellite data. Teachers, students and specialists meet on the site www.cnes.fr and try to understand tracks of drifting buoys or marine animal equipped with Argos transmitters.
 As part of this project, the scientists will make a study of micro-plastic waste in the North Pacific Ocean from the ship led by the navigator Patrick Deixonne.
 During the expedition, drifting buoys will be dropped. And Mercator Ocean will provide to the Argonautica participants the maps and the keys to better understand and monitor the trajectory of the buoys.

More informations:

Visit the CNES Argonautica webpage

Visit the expédition website

What is a current ? How has it been created? How to navigate using the currents ? How does the fresh waters and the warm waters circulate ?... Find the answers to these questions, and more in this book.

To read the summary (in french) and to order the book: click here

The seventh continent is not a paradise island lost in the ocean. This is actually a giant floating trash somewhere in the middle of the Pacific.
In this region, a big gyre catches continually drifting objects. Try to imagine the amount of rubbish that make up this continent…You are far from this: its size is estimated to six times the size of France, up to 30m deep.

The first French expedition:

This year, a French expedition wants to explore this continent. The Society of French Explorers sponsored the expedition.  Laboratory of Geophysics and Oceanography (LEGOS), Mercator Océan and the engineering school of ICAM-Toulouse are partners and actors of this adventure.

Follow the expedition with the Argonautica project:

A CNES educational project called Argonautica, framed by Daniele De Staercke can make young people aware of major environmental issues through the use of satellite data. Teachers, students and specialists meet on the site www.cnes.fr and try to understand tracks of drifting buoys or marine animal equipped with Argos transmitters.
As part of this project, the scientists will make a study of micro-plastic waste in the North Pacific Ocean from the ship led by the navigator Patrick Deixonne.
During the expedition, drifting buoys will be dropped. And Mercator Ocean will provide to the Argonautica participants the maps and the keys to better understand and monitor the trajectory of the buoys.

More informations:

Read a document on the expedition (in french)

Read the article in a french newspaper

Visit the CNES Argonautica webpage

Visit the expédition website

The world’s oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and play a primordial role in climate regulation. We now realize that climate change and human activities are modifying ocean behaviour. What are the changes? What impact will they have? How can mankind adapt to the new conditions? The exhibition is designed to explain the fundamental scientific issues, using interactive exhibits that help visitors understand different aspects of the current scientific debate while also presenting ongoing research work and the latest findings of oceanographers, divided into three broad themes:

• The ocean influences the climate
• The ocean is changing
• Adapting to change

In the nine months since it opened, 130,000 visitors have already visited the exhibition with an average of approximately 1000 people per day. Mercator Océan is also an exhibition partner. In the section entitled “The ocean influences the climate”, visitors discover an interactive workshop based on real-time forecasts by Mercator Océan. The visitor chooses a period (from among the previous few or the following few days), a parameter (temperature, salinity, speed of currents or sea surface height) and a depth, and is shown live animations of the ocean’s state and the way it is changing. The exhibition also includes a full programme of events (guided visits, workshops, demonstrations, games, experiments), a book "The Ocean, the Climate and Us, a Fragile Balance" published jointly by Universcience and Editions du Pommier in the collection “Beaux Livres”, directed by Édouard Bard, the exhibition’s science curator, holder of a Chair at the Collège de France, and a member of the Académie des Sciences (168 colour pages including 100 photos; price €35), and a website dedicated to the exhibition: http://www.cite-sciences.fr/english/ala_cite/exhibitions/ocean-climate-and-us/home/

Triptyque des grandes images © CSI / A. Robin

Diagnostics jour après jour des océans - Borne Mercator Océan © CSI / A. Robin

Informations:
"The Ocean, the Climate and Us" Exhibition from the 6th of April 2011 to the 30th of June 2012.
Accessible to disabled visitors.
Schedule : Open daily except Monday, from 10:00AM to 6:00PM, (to 9:00PM the sunday).
Cité des sciences et de l’industrie ,30, av. Corentin-Cariou - 75019 Paris
Subway station :  Porte de la Villette (line 7)
+33 1 40 05 80 00 / www.universcience.fr