2023-05-11 09:29:25
First deep robot in Europe permanently installed more than 2400 meters deep in the Gulf of Lion, off Toulon, BathyBot unveils the first images of its environment. Accompanied by an artificial reef produced with the Vicat group, and a battery of instruments, BathyBot studies the biodiversity, bioluminescence and biogeochemical processes of the seabed.
The first remotely operated mobile robot permanently installed at such depths, it is also the first to continuously document the colonization of an artificial reef as part of a mission led by a CNRS team. BathyBot, the artificial reef BathyReef, and other oceanographic instruments have been deployed in the Gulf of Lion by the French oceanographic fleet operated by Ifremer.
BathyBot will explore an environment almost as unknown as the environments of certain planets in the solar system. For at least five years, it will make it possible to study this environment in real time thanks to its high-speed connection.
BathyBot was designed by teams from the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University/IRD/University of Toulon). It was developed by the Technical Division of the National Institute of Sciences of the Universe of the CNRS. BathyBot embeds sensors to measure many parameters: temperature, salinity, current speed and direction, particle flux and oxygen concentration. It will analyze the surrounding bioluminescence using a hyper-sensitive camera.
Study the impact of climate change
BathyBot will make it possible to study the biodiversity of the deep sea, the impact of water movements on these ecosystems, the carbon cycle and its evolution in the depths in connection with atmospheric disturbances, acidification, with the evolution of temperature and oxygenation, deep waters.
Scientists hope to observe the colonization of the artificial reef BathyReef placed alongside the robot. The reef was made of concrete, an inert and mineral material, and from a complex, bio-inspired structure, offering a large colonizable surface. The research laboratory of the architecture agency Rougerie+Tangram designed BathyReef by optimizing the use of resources, with in particular an open structure. The 3D concrete printing was carried out by the Vicat group. The duo formed by BathyReef and BathyBot will be the first to offer monitoring of the colonization of an artificial reef voluntarily submerged at such depths.
Already interesting images.
The robot and the reef were set up in February 2022, during a mission from the Pourquoi pas? and the Nautile submarine from Ifremer’s French oceanographic fleet. A seismometer, a radioactivity probe, a biocamera to observe transient events have been installed. BathyBot having remained without power for too long, the system allowing it to move on the bottom is not yet operational. But the images already acquired, after only a few days, through the robot’s two cameras are already very rich.
This equipment enriches the Provence Méditerranée Underwater Laboratory (LSPM)2 , a permanent observatory located more than 2,400 meters deep off the coast of Toulon in the Gulf of Lion. Thanks to its connection to the 45 km electro‐optical cable which connects it to La Seyne-sur-Mer and to the scientific junction box, the LSPM equipment can be controlled, and the data retrieved, in real time.
The oceanographic component of the LSPM belongs to the network of underwater observatories of the European research infrastructure EMSO (for European Multidisciplinary Subsea Observatory). Distributed in the seas around Europe, the various sites of the network allow the study of the impact of global warming on the oceans surrounding Europe, but also on deep marine ecosystems with a view to fundamental research and sustainable management.
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