Thanks to 30 years of intensive and extensive research, Ifremer has developed well-founded references in global marine sciences and techniques.
Specific skills and facilities have been developed in joint research partnerships in the field of mineral and energy resources, and deep sea ecosystems.
The scientific and technical teams of the 3 Research Units, which form the Ifremer-eDRoMe Carnot Institute, include more than 230 staff members. They have reached a high level of expertise, they offer excellent opportunities to innovate and conduct multidisciplinary research projects.
Close-working partnerships have been developed at different levels with:
- university teams, research institutes and French and foreign organizations;
- industrial partners : oil companies (engineering companies, equipment providers and service companies), mining and extraction companies and certification authorities.
This has been further strengthened through participation in regional (pôles de compétitivité « Mer » Bretagne and PACA…), national (ANR, GDR, Clarom…), european (networks…) and international (USA, Canada, Japan, China…) groups.
Research programme
- The general theme concerns mineral and energy resources, natural risks and deep ecosystems, all of which correspond to
significant demands from social institutions.
- Research work is carried out by 3 Research Units (Studies of Deep Ecosystems, Marine Geosciences, Technology Research
and Development) which have specific laboratories and large testing facilities (test basins, hyperbaric tanks) and have
access to sea facilities (ships, submarines…).
- The research projects are based on the knowledge of numerous phenomena, their modeling and technological development.
Main facilities
- Deep Environment Laboratory
- Microbiology of Extreme Environments Laboratory
- Geophysics and Geodynamics Laboratory
- Sedimentary Environments Laboratory
- Geochemistry and Metallogeny Laboratory
- Cartography and Data processing Group
- Hydrodynamics and Meteocean Group
- Interfaces and Sensors Group
- Materials and Structures Group
- Mechanical and Instrumentation Systems Group
- Computer Electronics and In-situ Measurements
- Group
- Network Projects Engineering Group
Skills and know-how
- Geophysics and geodynamics: geological reconstruction, processes, multi-scale approaches
- Stratigraphy, sedimentary, paleoclimatic and hydrodynamic process and instabilities
- Geochemics, metalogenics : hydrothermalism
- Data processing (bathymetry, imaging, reflexion seismics), SIG
- Submarine acoustics, close-bottom seismics
- On-board electronics architecture
- In-situ chemical analyses
- Hydrodynamics and meteocean : modelling, stastistics, in-basin tests
- Behaviour and protection of materials and structures in marine environments
- Design of mechanical marine systems
- Submarine optics
- Physico-chemistry, molecular biology
- Benthic ecology, microbial ecology, genetics, biochemistry
