Setting off on the adventure with Polar Pod!
Phytocontrol is proud to support the Polar Pod project, the new expedition by explorer Jean-Louis Etienne.
At the end of last September, we formalised our commitment to the Polar Pod project by becoming a sponsor. This expedition will take place in 2023 around Antarctica, on the Southern Ocean, to collect unprecedented underwater data in little-known waters.
A doctor specialising in nutrition and sports biology, Jean-Louis Étienne was the first man to reach the North Pole alone and to complete, by dog sled, the longest crossing of Antarctica. A tireless defender of the planet, he has led several educational expeditions to raise awareness of the polar regions.
His next expedition will take place aboard the Polar Pod, an oceanographic platform built by the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), crewed by 8 people, dedicated to studying the Southern Ocean, the planet’s main ocean carbon sink, a major player in Earth’s climate and an immense, still little-known reservoir of marine biodiversity. It will enable the acquisition of long-term data and observations. 43 scientific institutions from 12 countries are involved in the project.
IFREMER recently announced that the call for tenders for the construction of the Polar Pod will be published on 28 January.
Polar Pod will collect data that Phytocontrol will be able to analyse, in particular the level of contamination from pollutants and microplastics present in this ocean due to human impact.
More than a project, it’s a technological and scientific challenge in the service of the environment!
