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Around Marseilles, France, construction is underway on a brand-new, fully remote-controlled underwater laboratory. A state-of-the-art aquatic research center, the LSPM is situated 24.9 miles (40 kilometers) south of Toulon, France. It’s now operational and the first of its sort in Europe. It is equipped with a wide variety of cutting-edge scientific tools and sensors for subjects like particle physics, oceanography, and geology. Modern scientific apparatus is housed in the infrastructure, which is 8,038 feet (2,450 meters) underwater. KM3NeT is one such instrument. It is a neutrino detector made up of 2,070 spheres placed on 115 lines that are moored towards the ocean floor and held taut by submerged floats.
The platform also houses the EMSO environmental sensors that are essential for keeping track of the condition of the ocean. The facility will be equipped with the following underwater infrastructure, per the LSPM: electro-optical cables for shore connection, junction boxes for integrating underwater instrumentation, long base acoustic locating system, and junction box specifically for environmental measures. The lab, which is located back on Terra Firma, will have the following essential facilities: Real-time experiment control, data collection and processing, high-speed connections to various control and storage facilities are all available in La Seyne-sur-primary Mer’s control room. The showroom, reception area, and multimedia installations can all be found in the CPPM’s remote control room.
“These enormous detector arrays are able to pick up neutrinos coming from the Southern Hemisphere sky. According to Paschal Coyle, “[the neutrinos] emit a bluish flash of light in the blackness of the ocean depths on the infrequent occasions [they] connect with water molecules. “We can measure the neutrino orientations and energy by detecting this light.” The platform will also include a submerged robot with the name of “BathyBot.” With the help of its sophisticated sensors, this robot can measure a wide range of oceanic factors, including temperature, carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations, current direction and speed, salinity, and particle concentration. This robot will also be operated remotely from the beach, like previous LPSM devices.
Even when far from the ocean floor sediment, the robot can scale a 6.6-foot (2-meter) high artificial reef and evaluate the water’s characteristics. A gamma-ray spectrometer will also be used to track radiation levels in addition to the soon-to-be-deployed new gadget. It will be feasible to assess the bioluminescence of deep-sea animals using a single-photon stereo camera. Coyle claims that because we know so little about the deep sea, “installations like LSPM can contribute to our comprehension of many diverse phenomena.” “Research on the long-term effects of global warming is essential. Even at these depths, the LSPM data show a rise in sea temperature and a drop in oxygen levels.