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TARA
length: 36 meters
width: 10 meters
height of mast: 27 meters
FROM VIRUSES
TO SAMPLE ZOOPLANKTON:
2
THE
Reviving the tradition of the great expeditions
of the 19th century, Tara sailed the world's oceans
for three and a half years.
For the first time, marine plankton in its entirety
was collected and studied – from viruses and
bacteria to fish larvae and jellyfish.
WHY THIS EXPEDITION?
CARBON
TO FISH L ARVAE
WE NEED 1 000 000 LITERS OF SEA WATER.
2013
1
Tara crossed the Northeast (Russian) and Northwest (Canadian)
passages. Scientists aboard accomplished a complete sampling
of marine organisms at the edge of the ice cap.
OCTOBER 2011
EXPEDITION 2009-2013
OXYGEN
3
september 2009 – december 2013
60 S TOPOVERS, 35 COUN TRIES
140,000 KILOME TERS AROUND THE WORLD
THE OCEANS regulate the climate and atmosphere
of our planet. Plankton produce half of the oxygen
generated globally each year by photosynthesis,
and absorb atmospheric CO2. Affected by pollution,
over-fishing, and rising temperatures, will plankton
continue to efficiently absorb carbon and regulate
the climate?
PLANKTON designates all the organisms drifting
with the currents. These microscopic organisms are
the foundation of the marine food chain, ensuring
the survival of fish, marine mammals, and billions
of humans beings. They react quickly to climate
changes and to ocean acidification. We must learn
more about this complex, dynamic ecosystem
and its role in global equilibrium.
CORAL REEFS are privileged places for aquatic
biodiversity, but they are suffering from climate
change, marine pollution, and over-fishing. Tara was
the ideal platform for exploring 5 rarely- studied
coral sites: Djibouti, Saint-Brandon, Mayotte, and
the islands of Gambier and Kiribati.
A CONCEN TR ATION
OF HIGH TECH
A unique space for microscopic imagery
set up aboard Tara – the dry lab – where
researchers characterize the organisms collected,
their functional diversity and their complexity.
Tara crossed the “Plastic
Continent”– a calm region
where marine currents
concentrate floating debris that
accumulates in masses.
THREE ME THODS OF
COLLEC TION AND OBSERVATION.
MORE THAN 35,000 SAMPLES
San Diego
observes plankton during
sampling.
THE FLOWCAM
is used to count and identify
organisms as they pass through
a laser beam at high speed.
Nice
New York
Savannah
Doudinka
Beyrouth
Bermudes
Abu
Dhabi
2 Peristaltic pump
Water is pumped from a
depth of 10 to 120 meters,
then passes through a series
of strainers and filters to
separate organisms by size.
3 The “rosette” CTD
and the UVP
This apparatus contains 10
Niskin bottles to collect water
from different depths, as well
as instruments to characterize
many parameters including
pressure, temperature,
conductivity, nitrogen,
oxygen, fluorescence,
etc. The bottles are
programmed to collect
water at different depths.
The UVP (Underwater
Vision Profiler)
deployed down to a depth of
2,000 meters allowed us to record
about 20 physico- chemical
parameters, and image particles
and organisms.
Maldives
Galapagos
1 TO 10,000 IN A LITER
OF SEA WATER
PROTISTS, INCLUDING
PHYTOPLANKTON
1 TO 100 MILLION
IN A LITER OF SEA WATER
The principal ocean
biodiversity consists
of multitudes of species
of unicellular organisms
with a nucleus: the protists.
Certain of them (diatoms,
dinoflagellates, etc.) are
photosynthetic. Along with
cyanobacteria, they constitute
phytoplankton, and are the
base of the food chain.
Phytoplankton produces
half of the oxygen on the
planet and absorbs half
of atmospheric carbon, thus
acting as a major regulator
of climate.
TO SAMPLE
VIRUSES:
WE MUST FILTER
10 LITERS OF
SEA WATER.
Zooplankton consists of tiny
animals, for example copepods,
embryos and larvae, but also
huge animals like jellyfish and
siphonophores. They feed on
living matter: bacteria, protists,
or other multicellular organisms.
Most zooplankton migrates
to the surface, or to great depths
to feed and protect themselves
from predators during the
night.
PORTS-OF-CALL
At stopovers every 6 to 8 weeks,
the samples – conserved with
liquid nitrogen, alcohol and
fixatives – were sent to partner
laboratories.
Guayaquil
Papeete
Ascension
Mayotte
Rio de
Janeiro
Ocean regions
undergoing acidification
Minimum oxygen zones
BACTERIA
1 TO 10 BILLION
10 TO 100 BILLION
JANUARY 2011
Scientists collected samples during one month
in Antarctic waters. This was the first Tara
Oceans mission in a polar region.
PARTNER L ABOR ATORIES
THE “ TAR ANAUTES”
23 LABS AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS
TAKING TURNS ON BOARD:
8 in France
90
crew members,
artists, and
journalists
5 in the United States
2 in Germany
2 in Italy
1 in Belgium
VIRUSES
Le Cap
Ushuaïa
IN A LITER OF SEA WATER
Bacteria are prokaryotes: cells without
nuclei. Certain species – the cyanobacteria
– can perform photosynthesis. They are a
food for protists and certain zooplankton.
Bacteria are responsible for a wide array of
metabolic functions in the ocean.
Maurice,
La Réunion
Buenos
Valparaiso Aires
Ile de
Pâques
1 in Ireland
1 in Spain
140 researchers
involved in
the lab work
12 scientific
fields
1 in Canada
160
researchers
40 nationalities
1 in Saudi Arabia
1 in Russia
IN A LITER OF WATER
The marine virosphere is immense, and
includes the phages (viruses of bacteria)
and giant viruses (giruses).
Viruses play an essential role in
recirculating living matter.
Size proportions of the micro-organisms
are not respected in these drawings.
VOYAGE OF THE SAMPLES
Mumbai
Djibouti
ZOOPLANKTON
Tara deployed 7 types of nets
(mesh sizes from 5 to 690
microns) immersed between the
surface and 1,000 meters deep.
The specialized Manta net is used
for collecting plastic on the
surface.
Tara crossed the Gulf of Aden,
a very dangerous region infested
with pirates. Research was voluntarily
interrupted for two weeks.
Dubrovnik
Hawaii
1 Nets
FEBRUARY 2010
Lorient (port d’attache)
Québec
THE UNDERWATER
VISION PROFILER
Tromsø
WORLD COURIER
This international specialist in shipping
sensitive products expedited the precious
samples collected aboard Tara to Heidelberg
(Germany), then redistributed them
to partner laboratories around the world.
SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
Based on the data from Tara Oceans, many scientific articles detailing the planktonic
ecosystem and its dynamics have been published, or are on the way to being published
in international journals.
Ongoing analysis of this data, thanks to the Oceanomics project* will help establish
a reference for ocean ecosystems, and set up a method for predicting and
following the evolution of these ecosystems in relation to climate change.
* “Oceanomics” (an Investissements d’Avenir project) aims to promote rational and sustainable
use of marine plankton, one of the planet's most important ecosystems in terms of biodiversity,
bio-resources, and global ecological changes.
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