An innovative approach of the surface layer sampling
Résumé
Recent publications revealed that the mixed layer may present surface singularities for biogeochemical parameters. Those studies question the common view of a homogeneous mixed layer. However, the degree of ubiquity of these surface singularities and their horizontal structures remains largely unknown because of the lack of adequate instruments to sample the first centimeters of the ocean. Therefore, the development of a new type of instrument, an autonomous sailboat designed to be easily deployed and to sample quasi-simultaneously the top centimeters and the underlying water column has been started. This instrument, VAIMOS, will routinely measure continuously temperature and salinity as well as biogeochemical parameters: chlorophyll a (Chl-a), partial pressure of CO2, nutrients and dissolved oxygen. A first prototype has been built and seems to have successfully sampled a vertical gradient in Chl-a during its very first try at sea. These preliminary results sound promising and interests for VAIMOS are growing among the oceanographers community who foresees alternative use of those instruments.