TARA POLAR STATION :
Studying the Arctic, sentinel of the climate
The Arctic, an unknown continent revealing the climate crisis
The Arctic Ocean is a remote and extreme environment, of which we know little about. It is unknown how the organisms living there cope with the extreme seasonality of light, temperature, sea ice, and how they survive the long polar night, which lasts for almost half the year. In recent decades, this unique ecosystem has been increasingly threatened by global warming and anthropic pollution. The speed of change and the fact that what happens in the Arctic impacts the entire planet makes it a real sentinel.
Better understanding the impact of climate change in the Arctic and on the rest of the planet
Improving knowledge of biodiversity on Earth by exploring regions inaccessible today
Revealing the unique adaptations that enabled life in this extreme environment.
Analysing the consequences of melting sea ice and pollution on these unique and fragile ecosystems
Observing Arctic fish stocks and the impact of the arrival of more temperate species
Discovering new molecules/species/processes with new potential applications
- 10 consecutive missions until 2046
- 18 people in summer
- 90 % of the time locked in pack ice
- 18 consecutive months of mission
Tara Polar Station will contribute to the deployment in the Arctic of France’s Polar Strategy:
“Balancing the Extremes” by 2030
” With the Tara Polar Station program, we will establish a long-term, drifting observatory/laboratory to study the ecosystems of the central Arctic Ocean. This observatory will be deployed in the ice for at least two decades from 2025, with 10 consecutive missions until 2045. To understand the biology of this unique ecosystem in its Arctic context, a comprehensive set of instruments will be deployed to study the physico-chemical interactions between the atmosphere, the surface layer of sea ice and the underlying ocean. A series of microscopes, cytometers and other instruments for advanced cell biology will allow experimentation with living organisms and the observation of intracellular phenomena. DNA sequencing tools tested on the Tara schooner will also be deployed on site. “Features
A drifting polar science station
Designed by architect Olivier Petit and the Tara Ocean Foundation
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Length
26 meters
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Width
16 meters
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Draught
3,20 meters
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Crew
18 people
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Deadweight
248 tons ; 404 tonnes loaded
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Maximum height
11 meters
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Hull thickness
20 millimeters
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Fuel capacity
130 m3 de HVO
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Autonomy
500 days
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Flag
France
L’équipe
Scientific consortium of the Tara Polar Station program
Lee Karp-Boss
Oceanographer, University of Maine (USA)
Chris Bowler
Biologist, ENS/CNRS (France)
Marcel Babin
Oceanographer, Laval University / CNRS (Canada / France)
An unprecedented scientific and human adventure at the North Pole
The drifting polar scientific base entitled Tara Polar Station will embark scientists from all over the world on multiple successive drifts, until 2045.
Climatologists, biologists, physicists, glaciologists, oceanographers, artists, physicians, journalists, and sailors will unite and live together aboard Tara Polar Station to make observations and conduct experiments on site, under temperatures ranging between -20° and -45°C in the heart of the polar night in winter. This future French mission already brings together the CNRS, the French Polar Institute, the CEA, the CNES in France, Laval University in Quebec, the University of Maine in the United States, the Swiss Polar Institute in Switzerland, Alfred Wegener Institute: Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, the Arctic Research Center in Denmark, etc.
These institutions will frame a multidisciplinary scientific approach in order to discover the many secrets of this still little-known environment, yet so decisive in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change.
This project has been cofunded by the State within the framework of France 2030 and cofunded by the European Union – Next Generation EU within the framework of the France Relance plan.
In immersion
Discover Tara Polar Station
Research field
Arctic
Upcoming mission
Identifying changes in the Arctic
The explorations of Tara Polar Station will refine the predictions of weather models in Europe by 2050 and the consequences of climate change on the functioning of our planet. These results will be used to improve policies concerning the governance of the Arctic and the global Ocean.
Mais encore…
Focus on the ice pack
Back to origins
The schooner Tara
A vessel dedicated to scientific research and environmental protection. Tara has been sailing the seas and oceans of the world to discover marines ecosystems since 1989.
