大象传媒

The Tara Europa expedition is a two-year study of marine coastal ecosystems covering听25,520km along the European Coastlines as part of听.听The expedition is led by the 听in听collaboration with the , the ,听the Tara OceanS Consortium听and involves 70 scientific institutions. The Michael Sars Centre, an EMBL partner, and the听Department of Biological Sciences (BIO) at the听University of Bergen provided on-the-ground infrastructure while the TREC teams were in Norway, the northernmost point on their two-year voyage. The project, which began in April 2003, is a multidisciplinary study of anthropogenic impacts along 120听land-sea transects on the European coastline.

鈥淲e are studying marine biodiversity, and the impact of human activities on coastal communities,鈥� explains , bioengineer on Tara. 鈥淲e have gathered data all over the world during previous expeditions, it is essential to study our own coasts as well.鈥�

During the visit, Michael Sars researchers and technicians were shown around the 36-meter aluminum-hulled听schooner, where a rotating team of six scientists alongside eight crew members live in close quarters. Despite the limited space, researchers have access to an impressive array of equipment for sampling and environmental analysis. 鈥淚 was amazed at how compact the boat is and yet, fully equipped to have sailed and sampled multiple times across the world!鈥� says Aishwarya Ravi, PhD candidate at the Michael Sars Centre.

Inspired by the polar expeditions of legendary Norwegian explorer , French scientist imagined in 1989 a research sailboat able to navigate the icy Antarctic waters. Ever since it was first put in service under its original name Antarctica, renamed Seamaster听by second owner听 before being acquired by听听who renamed it听Tara in 2003,听the schooner has been dedicated to environmental expeditions and ocean conservation outreach throughout the world.

Over its seven major expeditions, Tara has uncovered more than 100 000 new marine species. All the data produced onboard is made freely available to the scientific community, offering a wealth of future research opportunities for the conservation of the world鈥檚 oceans. 鈥淭ara is an incredible opportunity for science鈥�, says , Professor of Oceanography at the University of Maine and chief scientist for Tara Europa. He explains that the team conducts up to 50 different analyses at each sampling point. The data collected will be freely available to the scientific community and will contribute to countless research projects over the world.

The Tara Europa mission focuses on biodiversity at all scales, from viruses to medium-sized planktonic organisms such as fish larvae and small jellyfish. The project will also investigate chemical pollutants: from pharmaceutical products to plastics and pesticides, mapping the presence of these compounds is essential to address environmental and public health threats in Norway and over Europe.

鈥淥ceans are the most crucial ecosystems, and we don鈥檛 exist without them鈥�, says Aishwarya. 鈥淥cean conservation is highly necessary, and it was inspiring to see this incredible boat participating in global projects using multidisciplinary cutting-edge research approaches!鈥�

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