Tara's program through May 2013

Between expeditions, Tara keeps very busy! We're doing everything we can to fulfill one of our main objectives – to share with the general public what we've learned about the oceans and global warming.

On a more political level, we continue to promote the 'blue agenda' as we did at Rio+20 last June. To do this, we are participating in the organization this winter of a conference about the ocean at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, and this summer we set up the Alliance for the Seas and Oceans in conjunction with Nausicaa, Green Cross, Sea Orbiter, and World Ocean Network. We want to make the world's economic, social, environmental and cultural dynamic move towards a new consideration of the importance of the sea in our society.

September 2012 to January 2013

Tara will head for Roscoff (Finistère), home of one of the partner laboratories of the Tara Ocean expedition: the Station Biologique de Roscoff (CNRS/UPMC).
On the program in Roscoff for September 13 –14: visits of classes that followed Tara's mission around the world.

Then Tara will cross the Channel to England, and be in London at Saint Katharine's dock from September 17 to 27. Projections of films about Tara Oceans are scheduled at the Maritime Museum, and certain scientists from the expedition will participate in a talk about
climate change at the Science Museum. Schools will be able to visit Tara, and the boat will be open to the public September 22-23.

After a stopover in Le Havre October 1 – 14, Tara will be in Paris November 3 to January 15 docked at the Champs Elysées port (right bank) near the Alexander III bridge. On the quay, an exhibit for the general public will explain Tara's various expeditions, including initial results from her Arctic mission, and information about her recent voyage across all the oceans of the world. This exhibit will give the public an opportunity to understand how the ocean is evolving in the context of current and future climate change, and the major role played by the oceans in life on planet Earth.

Throughout these 3 months in Paris, 128 schools or recreational centers of the region will be invited to discover the new exhibit, visit the schooner with members of the crew, and participate in science workshops.

In October the book Tara Oceans, Chroniques d'une expédition scientifique (published by Actes Sud) will be available in bookstores.

In November during the Toussaint holidays, the film Planète Océan will be aired on France 2. This documentary exposes the dangers threatening our oceans and our planet. It was conceived to change the way people look at the oceans and encourage them to consider environmental protection as a shared responsibility on a worldwide scale. The film, directed by Yann Arthus Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, was produced by Hope with the support of Omega, in association with Tara Expeditions. Tara made available to the filmmakers a network of scientific experts and contacts accumulated during the course of her expeditions.

From an educational standpoint, the year 2012 – 2013, so rich in encounters, will also be the occasion for students to discover what happens in laboratories to the samples collected during  the Tara Oceans Expedition. The project “Du bateau au labo”, organized with the Rectorat de Rennes and the Institut Français de l’Education, will link up classes from middle and high schools with scientists from the expedition, for a direct and fascinating discovery of the world of scientific research.

January to May 2013

Marseille, Monaco, Villefranche-sur-mer, Bordeaux and Nantes – Each of these ports will be on Tara's route before departing from Lorient for the next Arctic expedition in May 2013.

With scientific and educational objectives, Tara will make a 6-month voyage around the Arctic via the northeast and northwest passages, exploring the Great North region currently undergoing  extremely rapid evolution. The goal of this mission is to study marine microbiology in the Arctic as we did during the Tara Oceans Expedition, and to carry out new research programs specific to this region – oceanographic study of the Arctic, analyses of plastic particles, or traces of pollution.