Monday, May 20, 2013

Tara: the ship left Sunday to conquer the Arctic - Atlantico.fr

we go for 7 months. Sunday, the schooner Tara left the port of Lorient, management Tromso, Norway, a little beyond the Arctic Circle. On board, biologists and oceanographers, including CNRS, EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory ) and the CEA that will go around the Arctic.

program this mission concluded its study of marine planktonic ecosystems, that is to say the infinitely small (the viruses to fish larvae) at the origin of life on earth and subjected to global climate. This study began during a previous expedition from 2009 to 2012: the ship had sailed the seas and oceans to collect samples of marine micro-organisms … except in the Arctic Ocean. This time, the goal is to complete this first comprehensive study of planktonic ecosystems (98% of the volume of the biosphere), which account for 50% of CO2.

new scientific adventure lead marine scientists and two-masted Russian in Canada, Alaska and Greenland, the Arctic is now free of ice. A journey of 25,000 km, which will last seven months.

“The only ocean which we have not yet explored the plankton in the previous study, is the Arctic,” explained Roman Confused, the Secretary General of Tara Expeditions and conductor of the mission to France Info before departure. “Only two sailing yachts have so far made a complete tour of the Arctic in one go, he added. This will be a difficult navigation or bold here and there, in the middle of plates drifting ice pushed by the wind. “

If you want to know more about the mission, you can watch the video below or visit the official website of the mission, updated regularly:

Read on France Info

No comments:

Post a Comment