Tara Arctic
Expedition News-Official Website
From 01.09.2006 to - Status: success
Sloop Tara drifting
© International Polar Foundation
The French schooner, Tara, has been assigned a great polar challenge: to drift on the Arctic pack ice for two years, starting September 2006, and while so doing, celebrate the IPY (International Polar Year). On board, scientists take turns studying the effects of global warming.
In September 2006, Tara, the scientific polar schooner, began her Arctic drift which will last two years. Indeed, her flat rounded hull enables her to resist the extreme pressures exerted by the pack ice and allows her to be carried across by the drift.
Led by the French businessman, Etienne Bourgois, the expedition is part of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 framework and represents a major partner for the European scientific programme, DAMOCLES. This extensive programme is bringing together more than 45 laboratories in order to observe the Arcic pack ice and develop a long-term prediction system so as to evaluate and foresee the risks and impacts of global warming on our environment.
Combining science, technology, education and communication, Tara Arctic is a great human adventure, designed to increase worldwide awareness on the importance of ecological equilibria.
