DeepSea'Nnovation: A Deep Sea Camera to Study Bioluminescence In Situ

Bioluminescence, the production and emission of light by organisms themselves in the ocean, is a widely distributed capability of organisms that could be used as a proxy of the presence of organisms, as well as to understand ecological function of such light emission. Thanks to advances in low-light imaging technology in recent years, ROVs and submarine vehicles have offered access to in situ observation of organisms and their bioluminescence emission patterns. Despite existing technology, today the number of observations, records and reported bioluminescence images in situ remains rare in the world. The DeepSea'Nnovation project therefore proposes the implementation of a low-light sensitive camera dedicated to bioluminescence observation on underwater vehicles of the French fleet “Flotte Océanographique Française” (FOF).