explores the Invisible World in the Oceans
Tucson, AZ - The Tara Oceans Expedition, now in its second year, follows on the 2006 to 2008 Polar Mission to the Arctic in which the ship, with its crew and scientists, was deliberately trapped in an ice flow for 507 days. The objective of this Expedition is to study the effects of rising atmospheric temperatures on the ice shelf and glaciers, and the effect of this warming on microbial life in the water beneath the ice.
The current Tara Oceans Expedition, 2009 to 2012 is a unique 3-year research effort based on a specially designed, aluminum hull, 118 foot schooner. The Expedition is sponsored by the French Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and has cooperative agreements with major international laboratories and Universities including several in the U.S. Sailing on its circumnavigation of the world, it is under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), and in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Tara Oceans is a floating research platform on, and from which, customized marine research activities, under the co-direction Dr. Eric Karsenti, and Etienne Bourgois are taking place. Research protocols on Tara are designed and maintained by a roster of 100 researchers who represent 12 related disciplines, recruited from seven European countries and the United States, many of whom take three week turns on board the ship. The protocols are focused on the identification and classification of marine microbial life, 80% of which has never before been identified.
Continuing into the second year of its three year round the world journey, this French private sector led, non- profit activity, has completed sampling at depths of up to 6000 feet, at close to 100 of its scheduled 375 stops on the high seas. The objective of the sampling is to retrieve microscopic life forms of plankton, viruses and bacteria.
Assisting in the overall Expedition are internationally recognized experts in marine biology, ecology, oceanography, cellular and molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics. To preserve the collections, observations and analyses of the samples, TARA Oceans is developing a free access data base which in combination with other marine data bases will allow the international scientific community to refine its knowledge about the continuing evolution of life.
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Plankton consists of mostly single cell organisms that are the basic building block of the marine food chain. In addition, plankton is essential to maintaining the environmental balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. With global warming increasing ocean temperatures, plankton species are migrating to deeper, colder waters threatening the fish dependent upon them that cannot easily follow their food source. A second of its research objectives is to study the effect of increasing acidity of ocean water on this microbial life as a consequence of its warming, especially in relation to coral reefs.
Following the successful conclusion of the Census of Marine Life, Tara Oceans is adding to its significant achievements. Tara Oceans is focused on the INVISIBLE MULTITUDE, the microscopic organisms that represent the life-support system of the oceans, whereas the CoML focused mainly on identifying visible, macroscopic life higher up the food chain.
A new protocol has been added to the Tara Expedition by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation of Long Beach, California, through which Tara scientists will also sample for plastic residue, initially in the ocean waters off northern Antarctica.
The Expedition has been financed principally by Agnes b, fashion designer, environmental activist, and owner of the boat Tara, and by the Veolia Environment Foundation, which seeks out and actively supports unique Environmental causes around the world. Additional funding has been received from Electricity de France, World Courier and the French Government. To help promote this mission, create opportunities and finance these activities the Tara Foundation for Marine Research was incorporated in Washington, DC as a nonprofit, tax exempt organization.
At the completion of this 3-year endeavor, more than 200 scientists, 10 universities, and five independent laboratories will have been involved, and a million or more viewers of TARA video documentaries, and readers of TARA Journals will have participated in this successor voyage to the epic journey of Charles Darwin on the Beagle over 150 years ago. U.S. Universities and Laboratories Associates:
University of Arizona, University of Hawaii, University of Washington, University of Miami, University of Maine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science, The Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
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