Jean-Henri Hecq - Belgium
Jean-Henri is a senior scientist with strong expertise in marine plankton, ecohydrodynamics and modelling. His current interests focus on Antarctic and Mediterranean coastal areas and in particular their sensitivity to the environmental constraints and especially their response to climate changes. In the Southern Ocean, Jean-Henri is mainly involved in projects focusing on the Terre Adelie area.
The videos of Jean-Henri
STARESO mission report
- September 04, 2009
Jean-Henri Hecq sums up the plankton mission. An admirable instance of collaboration on the scientific-logistical front with a human touch worth repeating.
The aim of this mission is to study the distribution of plankton and marine mammals in relation with the movement of water masses. The sea is not homogenous and it has different water masses. Between these masses are fronts, where water from the deeper sea will raise and bring nutrients favourable for plankton and mammals. There was an international study on this phenomenon in the 80s, but it was stopped due to lack of funds. Thanks to Fleur-de-Passion and Antinea, it has resumed. This is nearly the end of the mission, the only of its kind in the western Mediterranean. We hope to continue the study, at different seasons, and work on jellyfish, fish migrations, and the Globecephalla dolphin, now reaching Corsica and more Northern areas.
