Nanoparticles – such as plastic, titanium dioxide, and soot – are widely released by human activities. Researchers believe they are more likely than microparticles to negatively impact marine life, particularly plankton, as well as the movement of matter between organisms.
There is currently no data on anthropogenic nanoparticles (ANPs) in the Southern Ocean, although they are more likely to accumulate and concentrate there than in the Arctic Ocean due to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).

On board Le Commandant Charcot, the NANO(south)GATE team collected sea ice, snow, sediment, organic particles, and seawater using pumps, corers and ice, snow tanks, and marine snow collectors. These samples were stored and transported to the Takuvik Laboratory where they were analyzed to detect, identify, and characterize the size, shape, and source of the anthropogenic nanoparticles (ANPs).

This project addresses the urgent need to document the presence, distribution, movement, and effects of PNAs as well as their impact on living organisms and the food web.

Baleen Whales play an important role in regulating the ocean’s food web and maintaining the flow of essential nutrients. Once almost exterminated by whaling, their populations are now beginning to recover.

Whales feed on krill. A vital part of the marine food chain, krill is also harvested by humans for use in salmon farming, animal feed, and as fish oil supplements.

Studying the diet of whales is therefore essential in order to contribute to a more sustainable management of this essential resource—krill—in order for them to survive.

The mission aboard Le Commandant Charcot allowed scientists to record important data on the abundance and distribution of whale populations, which itself contributes to defining plankton fishing quotas in these areas.

Study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, Marine Mammal Science.

Measuring ocean floor pressure allows researchers to better understand environmental changes occurring in the Arctic, such as ocean circulation and sea level rise.
To collect this data, the team deployed an instrument on board Le Commandant Charcot called the Arctic Bottom Pressure Recorder - Follow On (ABPR-FO), which measures pressure at a depth of 4.2 km every 15 minutes for five years.

Each year, the team will return to the site to recover a full year’s worth of data. The system's acoustic transducer allows data to be transferred to the ocean surface, without the need to retrieve the instrument through sea ice.

This new data adds to ten years of continuous recordings (2005-2015) and will end a several-year hiatus in OBP observations at the North Pole.

They are also used to validate, verify on the ground, and improve the observations of the GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment - Follow On) satellite, in orbit since 2018.

Study published in Marine Technology Society Journal.

The Arctic is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet. This phenomenon leads to the melting of sea ice, deoxygenation, and acidification of the oceans, which has a considerable impact on the entire food chain. Ocean deoxygenation is considered such an important problem that UNESCO has launched a dedicated program as part of the Ocean Decade (2021-2030).

This project aims to better understand the effects of climate change and pollution in the Arctic. The research team measured salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen in the surface layers of the water, took samples using a CTD-Niskin rosette, and collected microplastics. They also used a new autonomous underwater imaging system called Underwater Vision Profiler 6 (UVP6) to take high-resolution images of zooplankton to study distribution patterns.

These measures will contribute to programmes supported by the United Nations Decade: GOOD (Global Ocean Oxygen Decade), OARS (Ocean Acidification Research for Sustainability), and those of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS, which focuses on marine debris within the framework of the Integrated Marine Debris Observation System, IMDOS).