The EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM), the flagship observation device of EMSO ERIC, was successfully deployed a few days ago as part of a major international effort to monitor ocean carbon cycling in the Northeast Atlantic. This marks a new milestone in autonomous deep-sea observation, with the EGIM serving as the central fixed-point platform in a year-long deployment campaign under the Horizon Europe-funded GEORGE project.
Located at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO), 500 km west of Ireland, the deployment brings together a fleet of state-of-the-art platforms, including Argo BGC floats, a SeaExplorer glider, Sailbuoy surface vehicle (deployed by the Marine Institute in Ireland), and a deep-sea mooring. Yet, it is the EGIM, designed and operated by EMSO ERIC Regional Facilities, that hosts the entire sensor suite at depth, enabling long-term, high-quality biogeochemical observations at nearly 5000 meters.
As one of the few seabed nodes equipped to host an array of carbonate system sensors (measuring pH, DIC, TA, pCO₂), the EGIM provides the stable, interoperable infrastructure required to validate and calibrate the entire network. The data collected by the EGIM over the next 12 months will be instrumental in understanding oceanic carbon dynamics and improving climate change predictions.
This deployment demonstrates once again the EGIM’s robustness and versatility in extreme conditions, and confirms its role as one of the foundational units of Europe’s deep-ocean observation capacity.
As the GEORGE mission continues, EMSO EGIM reaffirms its central role in Europe’s strategy for integrated, long-term, and interoperable marine observations.
Credits picture: GEORGE Project. Caption: The EGIM lander was tested ahead of the deployment in a water tank.
Author: Marco Galeotti, EMSO ERIC