ANR MARGO

Understanding the consequences of melting ice caps on the biogeochemistry of the Southern Ocean (SO) is a major scientific obstacle to predicting the influence of global warming on the functioning of ecosystems.

The most pressing open questions are the rates of ice melt in future scenarios, and the corresponding quantity of elements delivered to the ocean. Not all the chemical forms of the elements produced by the melting and weathering of glaciers will reach the ocean, and not all of them are equally available to micro-organisms.

Quantifying the bioavailable forms that will eventually enter the ocean and have an impact on biogeochemical cycles remains a scientific and technical challenge, requiring innovative approaches at the frontiers of geochemistry and microbiology. In addition, carrying out land and sea expeditions in remote and difficult regions of the AO requires accessible sites and appropriate logistical support for sample collection and long-term monitoring.

The multidisciplinary expertise of the MARGO consortium, which covers the fields of glaciology, freshwater and marine geochemistry and microbiology, and previous expeditions to these regions, which have taken advantage of the appropriate terrestrial and marine infrastructures, will provide unique results on the hydrological, geochemical and microbial processes that occur along the glacier-ocean continuum.