The DeepSea' Nnovation Project: Innovative Sensing and Sampling for Breakthrough Deep-Sea Marine Sciences

The France 2030 DeepSea'Nnovation project (ANR-21-ESRE-0042, 2021–2029) is dedicated to the development and scientific use of 15 innovative devices for the deep-sea vehicles of the French Oceanographic Fleet operated by Ifremer (IR* FOF). These devices enable in-situ multidisciplinary investigation and exploration of the marine realm from sea-surface to oceanic seafloor. Here, we present the scientific approaches for selecting these new developments which improve the perception and spatial analysis of the environment, increase measurement precision and performance and extend in-situ sampling capacity from metric to micro metric spatial scale. The methodology section provides a detailed overview of the technological approaches required to carry out system integration and scientific validation at sea. Then we describe the 15 instruments developed and integrated on the deepsea underwater vehicles. At last, we provide an overview of scientific outcomes that can be achieved by association of multi-disciplinary devices, thus delivering breakthrough and innovative scientific datasets.