French Vessel Sets Sail To Measure Climate Change
The French sailing yacht Tara is set to embark on an 81,000-nautical mile, three-year journey of the world’s oceans, tracing out the route that revolutionary evolutionist Charles Darwin sailed between 1831-1836, and assaying the effects of climate change on some of the ocean’s most primitive forms of life.
Darwin’s voyage “” and particularly his time in South America “” served as the inspiration for his now iconic work On the Origins of Species, which still stands as the foundation of modern evolutionary theory.
Undaunted by the intimidating shadow cast by Darwin, the crew of the Tara has taken up a weighty project of its own: To attempt to study and measure the effects of changing weather patterns on the aquatic microorganisms that produce some 50 percent of the planet’s oxygen and thus make life as we know it possible.
“Without these microorganisms, man would never have come into being. If they disappear, so do we,” explained Eric Karsenti, head of cellular biology at the European Bio-Molecular Laboratory and leader of expedition.
“Marine microorganisms””90 percent of the ocean’s biomass””absorb the majority of atmospheric carbon dioxide and produce half our oxygen. Measuring the impact of the warming that they are undergoing and studying the carbon and oxygen cycle will allow us to incorporate as yet unknown data in future climate simulation models,” he told AFP.
In contrast to the Tara’s last voyage, on which she sailed the frigid waters of the Arctic to measure and record sinking ice sheets, this time around she will enjoy a more moderate climate, sailing through the Mediterranean as well as the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making stops in some 50 different countries along the way.
And the crew aboard the roughly 108-foot yacht will not be working alone. They will be communicating with and bringing samples and information to some 100 scientists in laboratories in various parts of the world.
“This ambitious mission will plunge us into the invisible world of marine ecosystems, one of the least explored realms of oceanography,” said chief of the company Tara Expeditions, Etienne Bourgois.
“From viruses to jelly fish, larvae and fish and coral, to various microorganisms such as coccolithophorids and diatoms, we are going to study all the ecosystems at the base of the marine food chain.”
“This has never been done at the global level and in the continuity of all the seas of the world.”
Scientists have yet to fully understand how changing weather patterns will affect the oceans’ population of microorganisms. The significance of the tiny marine creatures, however, is of two-fold significant, as they not only produce large quantities of oxygen but also constitute the base of the food chain in aquatic ecosystems.
The Agence France-Presse (AFP) is one of the partners working to support Tara’s expedition.
AFP chairman Pierre Louette explained the agency’s support of the voyage in lofty terms, saying “The mission in this case is universal and the adventure unique”¦ In contributing to science and consciousness by distributing this news across the whole world, AFP is faithful to its own mission.”
The Tara plans to launch from the port of Lorient in Breton sometime Friday or Saturday. From there it will head south towards its first stop in Lisbon on September 11.