Editor: E. Masferer Dodas – Updated on 04/03/2022
Several LEGOS members have a major role in international research programmes:
Future Earth
Future Earth is an interdisciplinary and international research programme that aims aims to build knowledge about the environmental and human aspects of Global change, and to find solutions for sustainable development.
Contact at LEGOS: Anny Cazenave (member of the Advisory Committee).
GEOTRACES
GEOTRACES is an international marine geochemistry programme that aims to improve the understanding of biogeochemical cycles and large-scale distribution of trace elements and their isotopes in the marine environment. Researchers from more than 35 countries participate in the programme. GEOTRACES has been designated by the United Nations as one of the Actions of the Decade. The International GEOTRACES Programme Office, which coordinates the programme activity, is hosted by LEGOS.
Contacts at LEGOS: Catherine Jeandel and Elena Masferrer (GEOTRACES International Programme Office).
GLIMS
The GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurement from Space) programme aims to monitor the evolution of glaciers around the world, mainly using data from satellite-based optical instruments.
Contact at LEGOS: Etienne Berthier (member of the core team).
GOOS
The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) is a sustained collaborative system of ocean observations, encompassing in situ networks, satellite systems, governments, UN agencies and individual scientists.
Contact at LEGOS: Veronique Garçon (co-chair GOOS BGC Panel).
TPOS 2020 (from GOOS)
The GOOS’s Tropical Pacific Observing System (TPOS 2020) project is an international effort to advance our understanding and prediction of tropical Pacific variability and its profound consequences for agriculture, marine ecosystems, human health and disaster preparedness globally.
Contacts at LEGOS: Sophie Cravatte (Steering Committee member and Backbone Task Team co-chair).
Boundary Systems Task team (of GOOS Ocean Observations Physics and Climate panel)
Activities of the Task Team are coordinated by the GCOS-GOOS-WCRP Ocean Observations Physics and Climate panel (OOPC). The Task Team is charged with providing guidance to GOOS observing networks and GOOS Regional Alliances on observing asset deployments in coastal and boundary current regions that would complement GOOS objectives.
Contact at LEGOS: Nadia Ayoub (Task Team member).
GO2NE
Global Ocean Oxygen Network is an IOC-UNESCO working group whose mission is to provide a global and multidisciplinary view of the ocean deoxygenation, with a focus on understanding its multiple aspects and impacts. GO2NE has been designated United Nations Decade of Ocean Sciences Action.
Contact at LEGOS: Véronique Garçon (appointed member of GO2NE).
IOCCP
The International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) promotes the development of a global network of ocean carbon observations for research through technical coordination and communication services, international agreements on standards and methods, and advocacy and links to the global observing systems. The IOCCP is co-sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
Contact at LEGOS: Véronique Garçon (co-chair).
Megha-TROPIQUES
Megha-Tropiques is a jointly managed CNES and ISRO Mission for studying the water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics. The main objective of this mission is to understand the life cycle of convective systems that influence the tropical weather and climate and their role in associated energy and moisture budget of the atmosphere in tropical regions.
Contact at LEGOS: Remy Roca (scientific coordinator).
OceanPredict
OceanPredict (formerly GODAE OceanView) is a science programme for the coordination and improvement of global and regional ocean analysis and forecasting systems. It provides a platform for communication and knowledge exchange run by scientists and experts in operational oceanography from around the world to accelerate, strengthen and increase the impact of ocean prediction.
Contacts at LEGOS: Pierre De Mey-Frémaux (member of the OceanPredictOceanView Steering Science Team and co-chair of the Coastal Ocean and Shelf seas Task Team) and Fabrice Hernandez (member of the OceanPredict Science Team and co-chair of the Intercomparison and Validation Task Team).
JASON 3 satellite, SENTINEL 6 M.Freilich
Jason 3 and Sentinel 6 M.Freilich are two space altimetry missions from ESA, NASA, Eumetsat and CNES. Both missions are dedicated to the study of global ocean circulation and sea level rise.
Contact at LEGOS: Benoit Meyssignac (Project Scientist Climate).
SWOT satellite
SWOT (Surface Water Ocean Topography) is a space altimetry mission of CNES and NASA, in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA). The mission is dedicated to the study of the global ocean and continental surface waters.
LEGOS contacts: Rosemary Morrow (Project Scientist Oceanography), Jean-François Crétaux (Project Scientist Hydrology), Fabrice Papa (Project Scientist SWOT-South America), Fabrice Hernandez and Ariane Koch-Larrouy (Project scientist and collaborator for SWOT-Bresil).
CRISTAL Satellite
CRISTAL (Copernicus polaR Ice and Snow Topography ALtimeter) is a COPERNICUS project for an altimetry satellite dedicated to the observation of the cryosphere, and in particular of sea ice, polar caps and glaciers. To this end, it will be placed in a near-polar orbit (88°). The main novelty of the altimeter is that it will be in dual Ku and Ka frequencies to allow the measurement of the snow depth over the ice. Its launch is scheduled for 2027.
Contact at LEGOS: Sara Fleury, expert member of the Mission Advisory Group (MAG).
WCRP
The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) coordinates and facilitates international climate research to develop, share, and apply the climate knowledge that contributes to societal well-being.
Contact: Anny Cazenave and Benoit Meyssignac (members of the WRCP Grand Challenge Regional Sea-level Rise & Coastal Impacts) and Remy Roca (Chair of the WCRP GEWEX Data Assessment Panel and member of the WCRP Data Advisory Council).
CLIVAR
CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean: Variability, Predictability and Change) is one of the four main projects of the WRCP. Its mission is to understand the dynamics, the interaction, and the predictability of the climate system with emphasis on ocean-atmosphere interactions.
Contact: Sophie Cravatte (member of CLIVAR PRP, Pacific Regional Panel) and Lionel Renault (member of CLIVAR Air-Sea Interactions Working Group).
PIRATA
PIRATA (Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic) is a multinational programme initiated in 1997 under the umbrella of the international CLIVAR programme, and carried out in the framework of a cooperation between France, Brazil and the USA. Motivated by both fundamental scientific questions and societal needs, PIRATA is dedicated to the study of ocean-atmosphere interactions in the tropical Atlantic and their role in regional climate variability on different time scales.
LEGOS contacts: Fabrice Hernandez (PIRATA Steering Committee member), Jérôme Llido (PIRATA Steering Committee member).
*Programmes with European funding:
CCI
The CCI (Climate Change Initiative) is a programme of the European Space Agency that consists in developing global databases of essential climate variables using remote sensing. For each of the variables (which are defined by the GCOS: Global Climate Observing System) a consortia of European laboratories and universities is selected. LEGOS has the leadership of the Sea Level project, the Coastal Sea Level project and the Lakes project.
Contacts at LEGOS: Anny Cazenave and Benoit Meyssignac (science leaders of the Sea Level project and the Coastal Sea Level project); Jean-François Cretaux (science leader of the Lakes project).
CMEMS
CMEMS (Copernicus Marine Service or Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service) is the marine component of the Copernicus Programme of the European Union. It provides free, regular and systematic authoritative information on the state of the Blue (physical), White (sea ice) and Green (biogeochemical) ocean, on a global and regional scale. It is funded by the European Commission (EC) and implemented by Mercator Ocean International.
Contact at LEGOS: Pierre De Mey-Frémaux (member of the STAC -Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee).
ESSC
The European Space Sciences Committee (ESSC) is as an independent committee under the European Science Foundation (ESF) providing scientific advice on space science matters to the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission (EC), national space agencies, and other stakeholders and has become the reference body in Europe on space sciences matters.
Contact au LEGOS: Anny Cazenave (présidente du panel Earth Sciences)
*IRD-funded programmes:
LMI LOTUS
The International Joint Laboratory LOTUS (Study center of the land-ocean-atmosphere regional coupled system) goal is to develop an innovative integrated approach to study the transport and fate of water and matter in the river-estuary-ocean continuum focusing on the coastal regions of Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Contact at LEGOS: Marine Hermann (co-director of LMI LOTUS).
GDRI SUD CROCO
The GDRI SUD CROCO is funded by the IRD and its main objective is to formalise and strengthen the links between the French CROCO community and countries from the global South. About ten countries in Africa, South America and Asia are partners of the GDRI.
Contact at LEGOS: Lionel Renault (scientific director).