Iodysséus: Science on a racing sailboat

© Fred Le Mouillour

A project that combines ocean racing, science and public awareness

Resulting from the meeting between the skipper Eric Defert and the marine biologist Pierre Mollo, the Iodysséus project contributes to fundamental and applied research by providing a racing sailboat and an experienced crew. The trimaran operates in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea for scientific and R&D projects. Eric Defert pursues his sporting objectives by participating with this boat in several offshore races per year. The Iodysséus project also aims to raise awareness and strengthen public knowledge on sustainable development, the protection and preservation of the marine environment, the importance of biodiversity and the role of plankton in climate regulation.

The use of sailboats for oceanographic cruises: a concept that is asserting itself

In 2019, Iodysséus sailed the Bay of Biscay for 28 days for various scientific and private partners. During these missions, samples of planktonic seawater and aerosols were taken, protocols were tested, prototypes of instruments for measuring physico-chemical parameters (Argo profilers) were put at water and recovered. Reducing the carbon footprint of oceanographic cruises is a current concern. Thus, during Ocean Hackathon® 2019, the challenge proposed by the SKRAVIK association aimed to assess to what extent oceanographic campaigns carried out by vessels of the French Oceanographic Fleet could be managed with sailboats. At the end of the weekend, the presented project received the Ifremer's price, Ifremer being an ambassador of Ocean Hackathon®.

Beyond the ecological concern, a sailboat allows a certain speed and reactivity when it comes to study on site phytoplankton blooms whose formation is observed in real time by satellite. Aerosol samples are also preserved from any hydrocarbon contamination. In 2020, Iodysséus will carry out a new campaign of measurements and sampling at the ocean-atmosphere interface, by associating the following actors: the Biological Station of Roscoff, the Institutes of Chemistry of Clermont-Ferrand and Max Planck in Germany, Ifremer, Euro-Argo or JCOMMOPS under the aegis of Unesco.

Services described in the marine research infrastructures and facilities portal

Iodysseus is the 15th private initiative to join the research infrastructures and facilities portal. Find all the services offered by the Iodysséus project to researchers and companies on the portal.

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