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Tara expedition

Tara expedition is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tara expedition rather than just read about it. In short: Tara is a French sailing ship used in a series of oceanic research expeditions. The boat Tara is a 36-metre (118 ft) aluminum-hulled schooner, formerly named Antarctica and then Seamaster.

Tara expedition — main illustration
Tara expedition — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Tara expedition belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Tara expedition to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Tara expedition from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tara is a French sailing ship used in a series of oceanic research expeditions.

The boat Tara is a 36-metre (118 ft) aluminum-hulled schooner, formerly named Antarctica and then Seamaster. Designed by the naval architects Olivier Petit and Luc Bouvet, built in France on the initiative of Jean-Louis Étienne, doctor and explorer, in 1989. The schooner Antarctica was used from 1991 to 1996 by Jean-Louis Étienne for scientific expeditions in Antarctica, at the Erebus volcano and then wintering at Spitzberg. Under its former name Seamaster, it was owned by Peter Blake, who was shot and killed in 2001 by pirates while sailing Seamaster on the Amazon River. Following Blake's death, the yacht was bought by Etienne Bourgois, renamed Tara and dedicated to environmental expeditions.

Expeditions

Tara Arctic The polar schooner Tara set out to drift in the ice for approximately two years from its first departure, late in August 2006. The expedition met with interest in the oceanography community, especially in the context of the International Polar Year (2007–2008). Dubbed Tara Arctic, this voyage ended on February 23, 2008. It was part of the international DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) program.

Tara Oceans In 2009, Tara started a new expedition, dubbed Tara Oceans. It travelled around the world until 2013 to study CO2 capture by marine microorganisms such as plankton on a global scale. The costs of the expedition were €3 million per year, all from private funds. The expedition was primarily funded by the French fashion designer agnès b., however, it was a collaborative effort between the Tara Expeditions Foundation, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and 17 other international partner institutions. It was able to collect more than 35,000 planktonic samples from 210 stations in every major oceanic region, which through analyses revealed more than 40 million genes, most of which were new to science. The samples were analyzed using a combination of DNA sequencing and microscopy. Of the 40+ million genes identified, the two biggest match domains were 58.8% bacteria and 5.4% viruses. 27.7% were not able to be matched with any currently known domains of life. This fact underscores the vast unknown biological components of the world's oceans. In addition to uncovering unknown marine biodiversity, the Tara Oceans Expedition provided information on the role of marine microbes in the global ecosystem, address the impacts of climate change on marine life and improve ocean conservation efforts. One of the other goals of Tara Oceans was to allow open access archives of both raw and validated data sets to scientists around the world as quickly as possible. Links to all of the data sets can be found at https://www.ebi.ac.uk/services/tara-oceans-data. As part of the expedition's public outreach efforts, a short series of documentary videos called The Plankton Chronicles which merged science and art was created by the Villefranche-sur-Mer Marine Station.

Tara Mediterranean Tara Mediterranean was the next expedition that took place over seven months in 2014. It traversed the entire Mediterranean Sea with the goal better understanding the sources, transport, distribution and characteristics of surface floating plastic. One of the major discoveries was that of the 2000 samples taken on the cruise at 300 different sites, all of the samples contained plastic fragments.

Tara Pacific Tara Pacific began in May 2016. During this latest voyage Tara studied coral reefs and plastic pollution.

Tara Microbiomes Between 2020 and 2023, Tara traveled the South Atlantic, along the coasts of South America and West Africa, and as far as Antarctica, to study the ocean microbiome and its interactions with the climate and pollution. The Microbiome Mission has been endorsed by the UNESCO Oceanographic Commission for contributing to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

See also Tara Polar Station Fram (ship) Arctic exploration MOSAiC Expedition Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) expedition

References

External links Official site "Life Aboard The Tara Oceans Expedition". YouTube. Voice of the Sea TV. February 1, 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. "Tara Oceans: Cells, Embryos, and the Origins of Complexity in Life || Radcliffe Institute". YouTube. Harvard University. October 23, 2018. (A Lecture by Eric Karsenti)

Illustrations

Tara expedition illustration
Tara expedition: Sampling devices and working areas on-board SV Tara are shown from the vessel's [a] side-view, [b] bird's-eye-view of the deck, and [c] inside-view. They consist of the [1] Continuous Surface Sampling System [CSSS]; [2] Rosette Vertical Sampling System [RVSS]; [3] wet lab and storage in liquid nitrogen; [4] High Volume Peristaltic pump [HVP-PUMP]; [5] dry lab; [6] oceanography engineers data acquisition and processing area; [7] winch; [8] video imaging area; [9] storage areas at room temperature; [10] storage areas at +4 °C and −20 °C; [11] MilliQ water system and AC-s system; [12] diving equipment, flowcytobot and ALPHA instruments; and [13] storage boxes. The flow of seawater from the continuous surface sampling system to the dry lab is shown in blue.[1] Courtesy of the Tara Oceans Expedition
Sampling devices and working areas on-board SV Tara are shown from the vessel's [a] side-view, [b] bird's-eye-view of the deck, and [c] inside-view. They consist of the [1] Continuous Surface Sampling System [CSSS]; [2] Rosette Vertical Sampling System [RVSS]; [3] wet lab and storage in liquid nitrogen; [4] High Volume Peristaltic pump [HVP-PUMP]; [5] dry lab; [6] oceanography engineers data acquisition and processing area; [7] winch; [8] video imaging area; [9] storage areas at room temperature; [10] storage areas at +4 °C and −20 °C; [11] MilliQ water system and AC-s system; [12] diving equipment, flowcytobot and ALPHA instruments; and [13] storage boxes. The flow of seawater from the continuous surface sampling system to the dry lab is shown in blue.[1] Courtesy of the Tara Oceans Expedition
Tara expedition: Sampling route of the Tara Oceans Expedition (green track), showing station labels and areas (blue shade) where the annual mean oxygen concentration is <2 mL/L (WOA09), usually corresponding also to high CO2 concentration and low pH.[1]
Sampling route of the Tara Oceans Expedition (green track), showing station labels and areas (blue shade) where the annual mean oxygen concentration is <2 mL/L (WOA09), usually corresponding also to high CO2 concentration and low pH.[1]
Tara expedition: Schooner Tara in Brest Harbour.
Schooner Tara in Brest Harbour.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tara expedition

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tara expedition claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tara expedition before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tara expedition ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tara expedition

In research
Tara expedition appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Tara expedition in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Tara expedition is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1989 ships, 2006 in science, 2007 in science, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Tara expedition outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Tara expedition in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Tara expedition means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Tara expedition out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tara expedition in simple terms?

Tara is a French sailing ship used in a series of oceanic research expeditions. The boat Tara is a 36-metre (118 ft) aluminum-hulled schooner, formerly named Antarctica and then Seamaster.

Why does Tara expedition matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tara expedition?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tara expedition.

Tags

  • 1989 ships
  • 2006 in science
  • 2007 in science
  • 21st century in the Arctic
  • Arctic expeditions
  • Research vessels of France
  • Schooners
  • Ships attacked and captured by pirates

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