The oceans play a fundamental role in the global carbon cycle. PLACARDO aims at understanding and quantify the export of planktonic biomass to the deep ocean at different scales.

The oceans play a fundamental role in the global carbon cycle by taking up atmospheric CO2 by planktonic production and sequestering a fraction of it in the deep ocean. The depth at which this organic material is respired affects atmospheric carbon concentrations. Many mesopelagic bio-physical processes impacting this carbon pump are unknown or poorly quantified. PLACARDO aims at understanding and quantifying the export of planktonic biomass to the deep ocean at different scales.