Measuring microplastic pollution along the French coast: Fabrice Amedeo's new civic challenge
Fabrice Amedeo, the sailor committed to preserving the oceans, left Dunkirk on Sunday evening for a Tour de France along our coastline.
Theaim is to use sensors financed by Onet to measure the level of microplastics in the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and to communicate this unprecedented data to the scientific community.
- - Onet Group
Fabrice Amedeo, at the service of science
Alongside the Tour de France terrestrial, Fabrice Amedeo began his round-the-world sailing trip of the French coast this Sunday.
The skipper sails in the service of science, collecting a wealth of data:
- the level of plastic pollution,
- CO2,
- water salinity and temperature
These measurements enable scientists to better understand the consequences of global warming and the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere.
This extremely important expedition is helping to raise awareness of the state of our oceans.
This oceanographic equipment, financed by Onet, is carried on board a slow-moving boat. This is essential for the use of several types of filters that intercept and measure different sizes of microplastics, and allows the use of a 300 micron manta net for surface measurements.
These surface samples will complement those taken at greater depth by my oceanographic sensor. It will enable us to measure the microplastics found at greater depths, i.e. those ingested by zooplankton and ultimately found in the food chain.
Once ashore, Fabrice Amedeo will send all his filters to his scientific partners: Ifremer,IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement ) and theUniversity of Bordeaux for analysis in anticipation of the next big event: The Transat Jacques Vabre, scheduled for the end of the year.
He will then return to competition and continue his offshore measurement campaigns to establish comparisons with this Tour de France closer to our coasts.