MAREL Network

MAREL is a French coastal monitoring network run by Ifremer, the name standing for Mesures Automatisees en Reseau pour l’Environnement Littoral (networked automated measurements for the coastal environment). Each MAREL station is a moored buoy or fixed platform that samples seawater autonomously and reports at high frequency, the Carnot station at Boulogne-sur-Mer logging every 20 minutes. Measured parameters include sea level, water temperature, practical salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fluorescence, plus wind and irradiance, with data relayed to a shore station and the Coriolis data center. The high cadence captures freshwater pulses and phytoplankton blooms that monthly sampling misses, and it now sits within the ILICO research infrastructure.