The salinity and heat balance of the North Atlantic region is of paramount importance for the Northern Hemisphere climate and is intimately tied to the northward transport of heat and salt through the gyre and intergyre circulations and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), as revealed by modern hydrographical observations and model simulations. However, little is known about the long-term and low frequency (centennial to millennial) Atlantic gyres variability and their link to climate as well as to salt and heat contributions from the Mediterranean Sea. Previous studies have shown that sub-millennial variability throughout the last 11,500 years (the Holocene) are modulated by wind forcing and freshwater fluxes affecting the subpolar gyre strength and thus the surface properties of the North Atlantic waters entering the Nordic Seas. During the Holocene, the North Atlantic/European climate, including the Mediterranean area, have undergone significant changes as recorded by sea surface temperatures (SSTs), continental precipitation and air temperature reconstructions. Understanding the causes of climate variability in proxy records requires an integrated approach combining surface and sub-surface ocean properties and continental time series at decadal to centennial time-scales and their comparison with model simulations. This project aims at producing robust geochemical proxy reconstructions in key regions of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea for the past 11,500 years by using paleoceanographic proxies of SST (d18O and Mg/Ca from foraminifera, alkenones, derived quantification from microfossil assemblages), geochemical water mass tracers (eNd and d13C of foraminiferal tests) as well as novel tracers (eNd, Li/Mg) recorded in precisely dated cold-water corals (U/Th dating). Paleoclimate reconstructions will be evaluated against instrumental data over the 20th century, when possible, using modern corals and sediments collected with box-corers and ROV. To reach these objectives, our strategy will take advantage of the successful developments and scientific partnership of the ANR PICC, IDEGLACE (2005-2009) and NEWTON (2006-2010) previous projects. The HAMOC project will also benefit from the unique sample collections gathered during the past ten years of research on cold-water coral collection from along the eastern European margin and Mediterranean basin (INSU ICE-CTD, projects FP6 HERMES, FP7 HERMIONE, FP7 EPOCA, and FP7 CORALFISH) and interactions with European climate projects such as the FP7 Past4Future that produced numerical simulations and climate reconstructions including the Holocene period. Finally, HAMOC will strongly benefit from new laboratory infrastructure such as cutting edge mass spectrometry techniques (Neptuneplus MC-ICPMS – IDES/LSCE and CEREGE) and recent analytical developments for rapid and precise isotope measurements (eNd) and age determination (U-series and AMS 14C dating) on corals. On the modelling side, the project will benefit from long simulations over the Holocene from the state-of-the-art IPSLCM5A climate model where ocean tracers are implemented. Broader Impacts: The project will document the relationships between climate and cold-water coral ecosystems in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. This project will further support the career of young research fellows (PhD students and postdocs) who will develop their scientific skills in an emerging field linking marine geochemistry, oceanography and climatology expertises. The consortium will dedicate a significant effort for public outreach to raise awareness on coral ecosystems and the natural climate variability of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The core of the FRIPON project (Fireball Recovery and Planetary Inter Observation Network) is to (i) determine the source regions of the various meteorite classes, (ii) collect both fresh and rare meteorite and (iii) perform scientific outreach. This will be achieved by building the densest camera network in Europe, based on state of the art technologies and associated with a participative network for meteorite recovery. The present project aims to covering the cost of setting up this network, which will be achieved over the next 3 years. However, our goal is to make it sustainable for at least 10 years. The only way for determining the source regions of meteorites is to witness the falls live to derive their orbits. We propose to install a network of 100 digital cameras covering the entire French territory. It will use the most recent technology: to get orbital elements with unprecedented accuracy, we will use radio receivers to measure the Doppler effect generated by the GRAVES radar echo on the meteor head. Accurate orbits of the bolides will allow us to (i) constrain their source region and (ii) compute impact locations with a ~1 km accuracy (giving us a real chance of recovering the meteorites). We need about one thousand orbits to start statistical work for meteorite source detection. This goal will be achieved within 3 years as there is on average one bolide per night over France. In addition, considering that there are 5 to 25 falls over France per year (~15 on average), during the 10 years life of the project, there will be ~150 falls out of which we realistically expect to recover ~30 fresh meteorites including 4 to 8 important ones (i.e. not ordinary chondrites), based on fall statistics. Regional centers (mostly scientific laboratories) will form the basis of our network as they will be responsible for ~4-5 video cameras and one radio receiver. Aside from these laboratories, cameras will be installed in all kinds of public structures. All cameras images will be made available to the public. After each ‘event’, the core team will decide, upon analysis of the fireball parameters, whether or not to organize a recovery campaign. Once our network is fully operational, we will cooperate with our colleagues in the adjoining countries by (i) providing them with data on relevant falls and (ii) exporting the expertise developed in France to expand the network. Finally, as our network will be designed to require a minimum of maintenance, we foresee operations for about 10 years with minimal additional costs with respect to the starting ones (mostly replacement of some of the cameras, search party funding being sought by the regional centers). Our project is original in several ways. (i) It is inter-disciplinary, involving experts in meteoritics, asteroidal science as well as fireball observation and dynamics. It will thus create new synergies between prominent institutions and/or laboratories, namely between MNHN, Paris Observatory and Université Paris Sud in the Parisian region; and between CEREGE and LAM in the Provence region. Overall, scientists from over 25 laboratories will be involved, representing a mix of scientific disciplines and covering all the regions of France. (ii) It will generate a large body of data, feeding databases of interest to several disciplines (e.g. bird migration, variations of the luminosity of the brightest stars, observation of space debris, meteorology…). (iii) It will for the first time involve the general public (including schools) in the search for the meteorite falls, thus boosting the interest for science. (iv) Our observing technique will be completely new as it will integrate complementary tools (state of the art digital cameras in the visible range, radio and meteorological data) in a network denser than any built before (there are now about 50 all-sky cameras in Northern/Eastern Europe and there will be 100 in France only).