TARA POLAR STATION :
Studying the Arctic, sentinel of the climate
A unique observatory and laboratory
18 years after their first expedition to the North Pole aboard the schooner Tara, the teams at the Tara Ocean Foundation have devised and designed a scientific programme of a completely different scale in the Arctic to accelerate research into climate and biodiversity.
Construction of Tara Polar Station, a new drifting scientific base, began in September 2023 and was completed in April 2025 by Constructions Mecaniques of Normandy in Cherbourg, France.
Climatologists, biologists, physicists, ecologists, glaciologists, oceanographers, doctors, journalists, artists and sailors are embarking on an extraordinary new adventure to study the Arctic and its evolution over the next two decades.
From the first expedition, Tara Polaris I, until 2045, we will all be enriched by the strategic knowledge that these polar explorers will gather in the Arctic and share with the whole of humanity.
We are embarking on an ambitious adventure, fully aware of our generation’s responsibility to build a sustainable future.
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
3,2 meters
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Crew
18 people
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Deadweight
388 tons
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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
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.
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.
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.
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Together let’s defend Life and protect the Ocean.
