Sampling devices and working areas on-board SV Tara

The ''Tara'' expedition is an oceanic research expedition.

The boat

''Tara'' is a 36-metre aluminum-hulled

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

, formerly named "Antarctica" then "Seamaster". Designed by the naval architects Olivier Petit and Luc Bouvet, built in France on the initiative of

Jean-Louis Étienne Jean-Louis Étienne (born 9 December 1946) is a French doctor, explorer and scientist. He is well known for his Arctic explorations, where he was the first man to reach the North pole alone in 1986, and his Antarctic explorations, including the f ...

, medical explorer, in 1989 the schooner Antarctica was used from 1991 to 1996 by Jean-Louis Étienne for scientific expeditions in Antarctica, at the Erebus volcano and then wintering at Spitzberg. Under its former name, it was owned by Peter Blake, who was shot and killed in 2001 by pirates while sailing ''Seamaster'' on the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

. Following Blake's death, the yacht was bought by Etienne Bourgois, renamed Tara and dedicated to environmental expeditions.

Expeditions

The polar schooner ''Tara'' set out to drift in the ice for approximately two years from its first departure, late in August 2006. The expedition met with interest in the

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

community, especially in the context of the

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

(2007–2008). Dubbed ''Tara'' Arctic, this voyage ended on February 23, 2008. It was part of the international DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) program. Tara - Brest 2008-3

In 2009, ''Tara'' started a new expedition, dubbed ''Tara'' Oceans. It travelled around the world until 2013 to study CO₂ capture by

marine microorganisms Marine microorganisms are defined by their habitat as microorganisms living in a marine environment, that is, in the saltwater of a sea or ocean or the brackish water of a coastal estuary. A microorganism (or microbe) is any microscopic livin ...

such as

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

. The costs of the expedition were €3 million per year, all from private funds. The expedition was primarily funded by the French fashion designer

agnès b. agnès b. (born Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé, 1941) is a French fashion designer known for her self-named brand, which includes fashion and film interests. Life and early career Agnès had mixed twins at 19 and she separated from their ...

It was able to collect more than 35,000 planktonic samples from 210 stations in every major oceanic region, which through analyses revealed more than 40 million genes, most of which were new to science. ''Tara'' Mediterranean was the next expedition, followed by ''Tara'' Pacific beginning in May 2016. During this latest voyage ''Tara'' is studying

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s and

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

References

External links

Official site
* * (A Lecture by Eric Karsenti) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tara Expedition Schooners Arctic expeditions 1989 ships 21st century in the Arctic 2006 in science 2007 in science Ships attacked and captured by pirates Research vessels of France

The boat

Expeditions

See also

References

External links