The Tara oceans sailboat left Lorient on Saturday for a 3-year trip around the world. The scientists who will take turns on board will have to study the impact of global warming on ocean life.
150 kilometers. This is the distance that the Tara Oceans sailboat and its 000 occupants will cover for the next 15 years.
On its 36 meters long, Tara Oceans carries oceanologists, bacteriologists, biologists, plankton and coral specialists ... who will take water samples from all over the world at various depths to study living organisms in the oceans.
"These plankton meadows and other micro-organisms constitute, by their photosynthetic activity, an immense oxygen pump. But, these marine organisms are also an important carbon dioxide sink" explains the expedition.
More than half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced on the planet is absorbed by the oceans. Their ecosystems are therefore essential: "Our future depends on saving the oceans" recalls the expedition.
The warming of the oceans and the pollution they undergo are serious threats to the ecosystems present in the seas and oceans. But these are still poorly understood, as well as the consequences of climate change on their evolution.
Tara Oceans will travel to all the seas and oceans of the globe to try to find out a little more. You can follow the journey, the logbook and discoveries through the dedicated shipping site: Tara Expeditions.
vedura news source
