Canoe Yacht crews to participate in gathering oceanographic data

The CANOE project will call on the services of yacht crews and use their boats for gathering data on the different oceans, particularly in areas where little sampling has yet been done, such as the Antarctic belt and trans-ocean courses outside the normal commercial shipping routes.
Temperature and salinity measurements will be taken and transmitted using high-precision, miniaturised through-hull probes fitted to yachts. In the longer term, more sophisticated probe systems could measure fluorescence, as well as dissolved oxygen and CO2.
The innovative nature of the project lies, on the one hand, in the miniaturisation of reliable probes that will not disrupt the normal functioning of the yacht and, on the other, in a networking approach based on sailors' willingness and cooperation. Scientists will be responsible for the on-baord equipment, thus reducing the use of specialised vessels which are expensive to operate and limited in number.
The data series collected will be used by a large number in the national and international oceanographic community for scientific and climate research. The plan is to extend the application of the data to different European maritime countries via the European Jericho programme which is seeking to approve data-collection systems for use by several maritime coastal countries in Europe (Republic of Ireland, UK and Germany).
The challenge, notably for France which is a major player in ocean analysis and which needs to strengthen its lead in this field, is to multiply the number of ocean measuring points feeding into scientific and meteorological forecasting models.