The oceanic circulation is composed of the main currents, of large eddies and meanders, and of fine motions at a scale of about a few hundreds of metres, rarely observed in situ. PROTEVS-MED experiments were devoted to very high resolution observations of water properties (temperature and salinity) and currents, thanks to an undulating trawled vehicle revealing a patchy, stirred and energetic ocean in the first 400 m depth. These fine-scale dynamics drive the plankton and air–sea exchanges.