Scientists and Crew to Begin Eight-Month Drift Across Arctic Ocean in August

Six scientists and six crew members will travel next month to Kirkenes, Norway, to board the Tara polar station and begin an eight-month expedition across the central Arctic Ocean. The 26-metre-long, 16-metre-wide vessel will be locked into pack ice and drift toward Greenland while researchers collect data on marine ecosystems. Participants are scheduled to arrive in Norway on 14 August.

They will wait for suitable ice conditions before an icebreaker clears a path. Temperatures during the voyage can fall to -50C with months of polar night. The Tara Ocean Foundation raised €26m to fund the mission.

Romain Troublé, executive director of the foundation, received the Shackleton Medal this week for his role in developing the station. An earlier Tara schooner completed a transpolar drift in 2006. Scientists from 15 countries will take part.

Dr Nina Schuback, a biological oceanographer from the Swiss Polar Institute, will join the team after a selection process she compared to evaluations for the International Space Station. Schuback and colleagues will sample microbes through a central moon pool opening on the vessel.

She said she is both excited and scared about experiencing polar night, adding that her biggest fear is the darkness.

The expedition forms the first of 10 planned legs spanning 20 years. The Tara Ocean Foundation states the Arctic is warming three to four times faster than the global average; other studies report a smaller but still elevated rate.