Tara Polar Station: Scientists to study marine life at North Pole

Next to French, Tara Ocean's foundation has started the construction of an astonishing polar scientific station. The inauguration of that Tara polar station is planned for the end of the year, after which it will launch a series of scientific missions. Over the next 20 years, the boat, which looks like a space station, will serve as a laboratory for scientists to study marine life in the Arctic. To talk more about it, let's welcome our science editor, Julia Seeger. So, Julia, tell us, what exactly is this Tara expedition? Well, the foundation was created 20 years ago under the impulse of a very renowned French designer by the name of Anas Treble, Enyas B, as we call her here in France. And she literally fell in love with the beauty of marine life. And so it's really a human but also scientific adventure. The goal is to explore the ocean to then be able to better protect and understand the ocean. And in the last 20 years, as I said, this is an exploration expedition, but it's also a scientific expedition in a very big way because over the course of the last 20 years, 700 scientists, as well as 100 sailors, 50 artists, but also 30 correspondents on board have crisscrossed the the the oceans around the world on this floating laboratory. Let's just take a minute, perhaps, and go back on these past expeditions. A booty la cracion one of soups and palaresches. Que bric Lucien super plan visible si essencia de la Vizio Terre. But I want to remain a certificate collective for the prefer on it on collective task and collective which I can contribute, as you were saying. So the adventure is set to continue because there's this very latest expedition organized this time in the Arctic, so in the North Pole to talk more about it. It's a pleasure to welcome here on set the general director of Terra Ocean Foundation, Roman Troble. Thank you for joining us. It's truly a pleasure. We just saw this incredible footage of the past expeditions over the last 20 years. Just to give a number here, the Terra Foundation has travelled half a million kilometers throughout the Earth or throughout the oceans. What exactly did you witness? What is your observation after 20 years sailing throughout the world? I would say we made when we discovered so much things. I mean we discovered so much species, so much ecosystems that were there since ever, but we have never looked at it. And so the program and the scientists from CN is from from the MIT in the US and many labs in the world came together to monitor, to reveal this ecosystem, which is invisible stuff, which is bacterias, viruses, planktonic organisms. But also what we've witnessed is the heat, the heat of the of the ocean. It's really heating up 1° already over the last 50 years. But this is something you can actually witness. Yeah, you can see because you can see the species that are migrating more and more to the poles looking for fresh waters, you know, where they are more adapted. And so you can see a lot of pollutions. And this is really striking to see plastic pollution or chemical pollution as you can see in in the Arctic or in the Antarctic. It's a crazy, crazy play, crazy how strong we are doing what we do. We're very resilient indeed. Now, you've been dreaming on embarking once again on a on an adventure in the North Pole. It's now a reality with this next expedition. Let's focus on that specifically and talk about this new research platform. As we said, it's called the Terra Polar Station. Why first did you choose the Arctic? It could have been any other place around the world. And what are you set to study? Yeah, the the Arctic is this kind of sentiment of climate change. The Arctic is the North Pole up up there in the up. It's an ocean frozen by a 1m when the water is freezing every winter, 1m thick of ice on top of the floating on top of the water and drifting on top of the water in the Arctic. And so and this ecosystem is heating up two to four times faster and faster than the rest of the world. So it's kind of a Sentinel of climate change. And we want to study there to understand better how it, how fast it goes, why it goes so fast. But also, moreover, we would like to look at the life, I mean, life in the Arctic, in, in the thick layer, thick, thin layer of ice. Sorry, all the light that we have there sitting there. If you melt this, we're going to melt this ice in the next 20 years, according to APCIPC experts, climate change experts. And so we really want to document that before we lose it. That's why we go there. So let's talk about how far along you are in the construction of this polar station, because it does constitute indeed a technical, a technological challenge in itself. Yeah, it's a three challenge. I mean, it's a technical challenge. It's a scientific challenge and also a human challenge. I can talk about it later, but this platform is already being built in Chabot in France in the in construction mechanic, the Normandy CMN shipyard where we build the aluminium vessel very strong, super strong, super complex to build because it's in shape. You know, it's not square angles. It's all everything is round to escape the pressure of the ice in in on on the hill in the future, not to be crushed up by the ice. And so we are somehow the mid term of the building now and this will be splashed in the water and and Christian in after Christmas around Christmas this year. So it's coming up. So you just mentioned it's also a human prowess. Why is that? We are about, I mean, N sport is not far from here. I mean, the North sport is as far from Paris as New York, you know. So it's not very far, but it's very remote. There's no airport. It's only ice, very cold in the winter -40°C in the winter. It you are 210 kilometres away from any other human beings. So it's kind of a remote, as remote as the ice, as stationed in the arc in the in the space, in fact. So it's also a long winter. Yeah, it's long winter. It's a six month winter, five months dark. Yeah. And there is polar bears, of course, and there is and the ice is moving away and everything you that in the Arctic drift about 10 kilometres per day. So you don't realize, but you move 10 kilometers per day when you are in the Arctic on this station in the future. Now, you often alert about the, the harmful effects of global warming, of course, and, and you call on people to, to mobilize, to change their lifestyles. But at the same time, we often hear from you that we need to communicate on the resilience and the regenerative power of nature. Why is it important to, to, to carry that message as well? Well, I think we never, we really need to never forget what we're fighting for. And we're fighting for this, this planet. We're fighting for our well-being on this planet as human beings. And, and you have to see the solutions and you have to see the, the, what will come out of your actions. And what I see in the ocean over the last 20 years, each time you release a pressure from the ocean, release a pollution, you release the heat on the ecosystems, you see the ecosystem coming back like it was nothing was nearly nothing happened before. So there is a very good payback when you move and we take decisions when you move. More science, more policy, more decision, more good decisions for the Ocean's sake. You see it within the next three to four years. So it's very nice to see that. And for myself, I've spent my whole life dealing with the ocean and its its issues. I mean, it's it's my fuel, of course. Well, on this positive note, thank you so much Holman, for speaking to us here on France 24. We wish you, of course, and the rest of the team the best for this upcoming expedition. And we'll be following this if if you agree, Brian, on the science segment, we'll be following forward to to seeing what comes out of it. Absolutely. Tickets make the call. All right, that is Roman Troopnay. Thanks so much for being with us. Julia Siege, our science editor. That is so much all the time that we have for right now.