As a sailor who found himself in a privileged position to witness fabulous, and sometimes unusual, exploration and research, he shares a keen, occasionally amused, look at twenty years of multidisciplinary scientific cruises aboard research vessels of the former French centre for ocean exploitation (Cnexo – which became Ifremer in 1984). They covered marine geosciences, ocean physics, hydrothermalism, seismic and acoustic sea floor surveys, the hunt for polymetallic nodules, plate tectonics, the volcanic arc, study of tsunamis, and more. |