Service du Film de Recherche Scientifique

The Kerguelen Islands, nicknamed the "Islands of Desolation," are a French archipelago of subantarctic islands in the southernmost part of the Indian Ocean. They constitute one of the five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Uninhabited, the archipelago was discovered in the southern Indian Ocean on February 12, 1772, by the French navigator Yves Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec. This scientific film by Gilbert Dassonville, intended for the general public and for educational purposes, presents the scientific missions underway in 1963 on the Kerguelen Islands. The permanent station at Port-aux-Français, founded in 1950, the archipelago, and the surrounding wildlife are documented by following the multidisciplinary teams (biology, geophysics, geology, meteorology).

Methods for surveying and studying rock engravings in the Vallée des Merveilles, which have enabled us to define several styles corresponding to different periods of the Bronze Age. The topographical distribution of the engravings suggests an interpretation of their significance.

A César nominated short documentary film investigating this volcanic eruption, what caused it and just how high the debris went up into the sky.