Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Oceans, from space

A preview of the latest film by French filmmaker Jacques Perrin with the help of ESA satellites. The film focuses on the sea.

JACQUES PERRIN; Director of Oceans: The sea takes me back to my childhood, because the sea was the main protagonist of my dreams. And how to show it better than making a movie? However, the best way to look at the sea is to look from above, from a satellite.

In the famous film Nomads of the Wind, the French director Jacques Perrin described the amazing migratory journey of birds. Oceans now comes in the same style but with new cinematic techniques. With the sea as its theme, it makes a great journey from the plains of the poles to the tropical areas, to the heart of the seas. It shows us the storms and also several marine species that are little known or do not receive attention.

To obtain these spectacular images, Perrin spent years researching and recording them until he accumulated hundreds of hours of video. Inspired by the beauty of the sea, he finds one of the greatest aids in space.

JACQUES PERRIN; Director of Oceans: Thanks to ESA’s satellites, we get a different perspective, which is exactly what we show in the film. That eye that looks at the sea, that makes us think of the seas, is within our reach. We see currents, beautiful rivers that are a source of oxygen for the sea, rivers that carry a lot of pollutants. But it is not only that, there is also beauty, salinity, the movement of rapids. Looking from above, it seems that you are on a balcony in the sky, that you are a god looking at a spectacular planet.

The European Space Agency has participated in Perrin's new film.

since the launch of the ERS-1 satellite in 1991, ESA has provided a wealth of data to the community of experts investigating the sea. After the spacecraft ENVISAT was launched, ESA’s observation capacity increased. In fact, ENVISAT has sensors to distinguish and measure the color of the seas, which allows us to describe biogeochemical processes on a global scale. Today, with SMOS satellites, it is possible to measure, among other things, the humidity of the Earth, the salinity of the sea and the temperature all over the planet and on a continuous basis. Through this data, scientists can better understand maritime traffic and make better predictions about the climate.

Satellites, however, only provide data; they do not solve problems: they are able to find the most polluted area in the middle of the sea, but they cannot clean it. From this perspective, Perrin’s new work seeks to unify knowledge and action.

JACQUES PERRIN; Director of Oceans: It is time to make decisions, we must make decisions and take measures that protect the sea. We need to make people understand that taking care of the sea is beneficial for everyone. Everyone has to understand that.

Pollution and overfishing have put the biodiversity of the seas at risk. The magnificent images captured by Perrin’s cameras show that the sea is as fertile as it is fragile.

JACQUES PERRIN; Director of Oceans: To see the abundance, diversity and incomparable beauty of these animals is second nature, it is the opera of nature, a truly spectacular but very fragile nature.