Serge Heussner, Research Director at CNRS, Director of CEFREM, 25-year experience in marine biogeochemistry, radioecology and particle fluxes. Former Coordinator of the FP5 project ADIOS; member of the steering committees of EUROMARGE-NB, MTPII-MATER, EUROSTRATAFORM, HERMES, HERMIONE; PI in 4 other European projects. His research interests include particle transfer processes on margins, biogenic sedimentation, natural radiotracers, buildup and improvement of sediment traps. Author of over 100 scientific publications, among which 50 in peer-reviewed journals.



Xavier Durrieu De Mardron, Research Director at CNRS, 20-year experience in hydrodynamics and sediment transport on continental margins (coastal oceanography, shelf-slope exchanges, sediment dynamics, budgets), and coupling of in situ observations and modelling. Participation in various European research projects (EUROMARGE-NB, MATER, EUROSTRATAFORM, HERMES, SESAME, HERMIONE), member of the steering committees of european and national project (METRO-MED, INTERPOL, PNEC), and coordinator of the national project MERMEX. His research interests include resuspension and transport of sediments and suspended particles, impact of extreme events on shelf-slope exchanges and deep ecosystems. Author of over 70 scientific publications, among which 53 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Francois Carlotti, Research Director at CNRS, Head of the ‘Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Biogeochimique’ (Mixte Unit of CNRS - Université de la Méditerranée – IRD). F.C. is marine biologist with a longterm interest in physical-biological coupling in marine ecosystems and its impact in ecosystem functioning for both biogeochemical cycles and marine food webs. He is heavily involved in the development of pelagic trophic food web models as well as in integrated observation of the pelagic biota. He is the author and co-author of more than 70 peerreviewed publications and book chapters, and has supervised 18 Ph.D and post-doc students. He was nominated in 2010 to be chair of the French National Program on Biogeochemical Cycles –Environment and Resources (CYBER). He has been involved in several EU projects in MAST III (EURAPP, TASC) and more recently in EU-REX EUROCEANS and the EU-funded SESAME IP.

Wolfgang Ludwig, Full professor at the University of Perpignan, 20-year experience in river-ocean exchanges, with a special emphasis on carbon, sediment and nutrients fluxes and their role in biogeochemical cycles (e.g. global carbon cycle). He has experience both in field studies and in GIS-based modelling. Participation in various national and European research projects (e.g. EROS 2000, ESCOBA, ORME, EUROSTRATAFORM, SESAME). His research interests include dissolved and particulate fluxes to the oceans by rivers at regional and global scales. Author of 60 scientific publications, among which 30 papers appeared in peer-reviewed journals.


Dominique Aubert, Associate Professor at the University of Perpignan, 10-year experience in river and ocean geochemistry with a special emphasis on the use of trace elements (e.g. REE, Pb and Nd isotopes) as tracers of material origin (both dissolved and particulate matter). He has experience both in field studies and in analytical techniques. Participation in various national and European research projects (e.g. EXTREMA, HERMES, SESAME, HERMIONE). His research interests include dissolved and particulate fluxes of trace metals to the oceans by rivers, mostly at a regional scale, the behaviour of these elements in the water column and in the sediments and their impact on deep ecosystems. Author of 15 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Laurent Beguery, Head engineer of the National Glider Facility, started at CNRS in 1999 by developing a very broad band seismometer specially designed for underwater experiments. In 2003, he became head engineer for the Ocean Bottom Seismometer National Facility, in charge of 23 instruments, while conducting numerous seismic experiments including aftershocks recording in French Antilles and Indonésia. Since September 2008 he has been head engineer for the National Glider facility.



Laurent Mortier, Professor of physical oceanography at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées, the major “Grande Ecole” in France for marine sciences and technologies. Since 2003, Laurent Mortier has been playing a major role in France in the development of the glider national facility and, in Europe to develop the EGO coordination between European institutions and SMEs. He is now PI of the French Mediterranean Observing System (MOOSE)” and its coordination with similar initiatives in the Mediterranean. Author of 16 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.



Pierre Testor, Chief Researcher at CNRS in physical oceanography, in relation to mesoscale/submesoscale processes. In 2004, he deployed a glider for the first time in Europe in the framework of the EC MFSTEP project. Since then, he has participated in almost all the developments of the glider activity in the EGO group. At present, he is the French national contact point for marine research based on gliders and the chair of the EGO COST Action ES0904. The recognition of his work is international and this was recently demonstrated by the invitation to write a Community White Paper on gliders at the OceanObs'09 conference. Author of 11 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.