standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

Chapter 9
Data Standards Utilised in the
Environmental studies of l’Institut
français de recherche pour l'exploitation
de la mer (IFREMER) and l’Association
française pour l’exploration et la
recherche des nodules (AFERNOD)
Dr. Myriam Sibuet, Director, Department of Deep-Sea
Environment, Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de
la mer (IFREMER), Centre de Brest, France
SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION
Dr. Myriam Sibuet began her remarks by stating that it was still too
early for a general standardisation in deep-sea ecology because the
understanding of this subject was still in its infancy, especially concerning
the functioning of the deep sea. Of the relatively small group of 30 people
that she led in France, only six scientists were working in deep-sea biology,
chemistry and physical oceanography, and on the group’s leading
programme on hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and deep-sea basins.
The experience in deep-sea environmental studies gained by the
Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (French Research
Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) could help to identify what was needed
in the nodule areas. She would discuss what it had learned from studies on
the structure and functioning of detritus-based ecosystems, and what
sampling gear and other equipment were suitable for these studies. She
would also describe Biocean, a multidisciplinary database devoted to the
deep sea and to all the cruises that IFREMER had conducted to date, which
could help to show how the data for this environment should be managed.
Finally, she would speak about a proposal for a multidisciplinary cruise to
the north equatorial Pacific nodule area allocated to the Association
française pour l’exploration et la recherche des nodules (French Association
for Exploration and Research of Nodules).
The general objective of the IFREMER Department of Deep-Sea
Environment, which had close links with universities and occasionally with
others in Europe, was to contribute to the knowledge and exploration of the
deep sea by studying the structure and functioning of the benthic
ecosystem. It had identified three types of ecosystems: in addition to the
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