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Main Authors: Babin, Marcel, Karp-Boss, Lee, Bowler, Chris, Ardyna, Mathieu, Flores, J. Michel, Geoffroy, Maxime, Ghiglione, Jean-Francois, Law, Kathy S., Nicolaus, Marcel, Rabe, Benjamin, Schmale, Julia, Acinas, Silvia G., Deming, Jody W., Galand, Pierre E., Linkowski, Thomas, Moulin, Clementine, Pelletier, Eric, Polyakov, Igor, Raut, Jean-Christophe, Rysgaard, Soren, Vancoppenolle, Martin, Troublé, Romain
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05838
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author Babin, Marcel
Karp-Boss, Lee
Bowler, Chris
Ardyna, Mathieu
Flores, J. Michel
Geoffroy, Maxime
Ghiglione, Jean-Francois
Law, Kathy S.
Nicolaus, Marcel
Rabe, Benjamin
Schmale, Julia
Acinas, Silvia G.
Deming, Jody W.
Galand, Pierre E.
Linkowski, Thomas
Moulin, Clementine
Pelletier, Eric
Polyakov, Igor
Raut, Jean-Christophe
Rysgaard, Soren
Vancoppenolle, Martin
Troublé, Romain
author_facet Babin, Marcel
Karp-Boss, Lee
Bowler, Chris
Ardyna, Mathieu
Flores, J. Michel
Geoffroy, Maxime
Ghiglione, Jean-Francois
Law, Kathy S.
Nicolaus, Marcel
Rabe, Benjamin
Schmale, Julia
Acinas, Silvia G.
Deming, Jody W.
Galand, Pierre E.
Linkowski, Thomas
Moulin, Clementine
Pelletier, Eric
Polyakov, Igor
Raut, Jean-Christophe
Rysgaard, Soren
Vancoppenolle, Martin
Troublé, Romain
contents The Arctic Ocean is currently experiencing, at the forefront of global concerns, the pressures of climate change and global pollution. To boost our ability to understand the state of this ecosystem, its evolution in this context and its resilience, the Tara Ocean Foundation has built the Tara Polar Station (TPS), intended to become a permanent observatory of the central Arctic Ocean. The objective of this initiative is threefold: to deepen our knowledge of the foundations of life in an ice-covered polar ocean, to better understand the dynamics of the coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere system and the role of living organisms, and to identify long-term trends in the main characteristics of the Central Arctic Ocean ecosystem resulting from global change. In this article, we describe the vision that guided the development of the Tara Polaris scientific programme, and more specifically the first of ten transpolar drifts that will be undertaken over the next 20 years aboard the TPS (Tara Polaris I, II, III, etc.). The research activities of the Tara Polaris I expedition will be grouped under four specific but interrelated themes: biosphere-atmosphere interactions, epi- and mesopelagic life in an ice-covered ocean, life in sea ice, and pollution. In addition, a theme that cuts across all environmental compartments and disciplines, and is implemented on all Tara Polaris expeditions, is the establishment of an observatory that will monitor the main sentinels of this ecosystem. This umbrella article introduces these different themes, which are then described in more detail in four other articles in this Special Feature, in addition to an article describing the technical characteristics of the TPS.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_05838
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Tara Polaris scientific vision: Advancing our understanding of the central Arctic Ocean to better address life in the Earth System
Babin, Marcel
Karp-Boss, Lee
Bowler, Chris
Ardyna, Mathieu
Flores, J. Michel
Geoffroy, Maxime
Ghiglione, Jean-Francois
Law, Kathy S.
Nicolaus, Marcel
Rabe, Benjamin
Schmale, Julia
Acinas, Silvia G.
Deming, Jody W.
Galand, Pierre E.
Linkowski, Thomas
Moulin, Clementine
Pelletier, Eric
Polyakov, Igor
Raut, Jean-Christophe
Rysgaard, Soren
Vancoppenolle, Martin
Troublé, Romain
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
The Arctic Ocean is currently experiencing, at the forefront of global concerns, the pressures of climate change and global pollution. To boost our ability to understand the state of this ecosystem, its evolution in this context and its resilience, the Tara Ocean Foundation has built the Tara Polar Station (TPS), intended to become a permanent observatory of the central Arctic Ocean. The objective of this initiative is threefold: to deepen our knowledge of the foundations of life in an ice-covered polar ocean, to better understand the dynamics of the coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere system and the role of living organisms, and to identify long-term trends in the main characteristics of the Central Arctic Ocean ecosystem resulting from global change. In this article, we describe the vision that guided the development of the Tara Polaris scientific programme, and more specifically the first of ten transpolar drifts that will be undertaken over the next 20 years aboard the TPS (Tara Polaris I, II, III, etc.). The research activities of the Tara Polaris I expedition will be grouped under four specific but interrelated themes: biosphere-atmosphere interactions, epi- and mesopelagic life in an ice-covered ocean, life in sea ice, and pollution. In addition, a theme that cuts across all environmental compartments and disciplines, and is implemented on all Tara Polaris expeditions, is the establishment of an observatory that will monitor the main sentinels of this ecosystem. This umbrella article introduces these different themes, which are then described in more detail in four other articles in this Special Feature, in addition to an article describing the technical characteristics of the TPS.
title The Tara Polaris scientific vision: Advancing our understanding of the central Arctic Ocean to better address life in the Earth System
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05838