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After traveling 70,000 km in the South Atlantic, the Pacific and Antarctica, Tara is back on Saturday October 15, in Lorient, her home port. The French sailboat intended for scientific research and the defense of the environment made a triumphant arrival, after two long years of expedition.
On each return, dozens of boats escort the schooner Tara to the harbor of Lorient. In its holds, 25,000 samples, collected in several seas around the world. The 36-meter schooner houses three laboratories. “When there is wind or a ghoul, it can be more complicated”, says Samuel Chaffron, biologist and researcher at the CNRS. Impossible to see them with the naked eye, but the microorganisms are there. Plankton often unknown, but very important. “He is at the base of the food chain, (…) up to mammalian fish and us, humans. So it is really important to understand how this plankton will be impacted by this ongoing climate change”he adds.
Plankton is a source of life, but not only. Thanks to it, the ocean captures 30% of our carbon emissions, which is as much as terrestrial plants. How ? This is the investigation carried out by Tara for nearly two years, in Latin America, Antarctica and along the West African coast. She crossed 14 countries and 70,000 km. Each new expedition is a new scientific and human adventure. Dozens of scientists followed one another on the laboratory boat. This international cooperation aims to better decode changes in ecosystems. The fruits of their labor will be shipped to laboratories around the world. The first results will be released in two years.