Tara Polar Station

Last updated
Tara Polar Station.jpg
Tara Polar Station during CONTRASTS expedition
History
Flag of France.svg France
NameTara Polar Station
OwnerFondation Tara Océan
Route Arctic
Builder Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie
Cost € 21 million [1]
LaunchedOctober 2024
Homeport Lorient, France
Identification
Statusin active service
General characteristics
Type research vessel
Tonnage495  GT [3]
Displacement416 tonnes [4]
Length26 m (85 ft 4 in) [3]
Beam16 m (52 ft 6 in) [3]
Draft2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) [4]
Ice class1A Super [4]
Installed powerCummins X15, 336 kW (450 hp) [4]
Speed9.0 knots [4]
Capacity24 persons
Crew20 persons

Tara Polar Station is a French drifting scientific base aimed for Arctic Ocean expeditions and operated by the Tara Oceans Foundation and its collaborators.

Contents

Development

The station is financed and designed by the Tara Foundation and was built in Cherbourg, France, from May 2023 to April 2025, after 5 years of design. It was baptized in Lorient, France, on 24 April 2025. [5]

Design

The station was designed by the architect Oliver Petit and will be able to work in temperatures down to −52 °C (−62 °F). It has a length of 26 metres (85 ft), a width of 16 metres (52 ft), and it can accommodate a crew of 12 people in winter and up to 20 people in summer. Its hull is made from 20-mm-thick aluminium sheets. [6] The station has a 1.6 m diameter moon pool, which can be used for underwater sampling using CTD-rosette, remotely operated vehicles, and autonomous underwater vehicles. The ship has a living area of 400 square meters and is divided into four levels: (1) bridge deck with wheelhouse and captain’s office, (2) main deck with entryway, sickbay, sauna, galley, and mess, (3) lower deck with twelve crew cabins and six laboratories, and (4) lower deck with auxiliary compartment (diesel and kerosene storage) and the engine/propulsion room. The station is equipped with solar panels, a wind turbine, and biodiesel generators.

Expeditions

Tara Polar Station was tested in ice conditions in July 2025 during the CONTRASTS expedition. It left Longyearbyen, Svalbard, on 4 July, and sailed towards sea ice together with the research vessel Polarstern. Tara Polar Station is planned to complete its first drift in the Arctic Ocean in summer 2026. There are at least 10 planned Arctic expeditions along the Transpolar Drift, preparing the route of Nansen's Fram expedition, Soviet and Russian drifting stations, and MOSAiC Expedition. [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Stratégie polaire française" (PDF). Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  2. ↑ "Ship TARA POLAR STATION (Research/Survey Vessel) Registered in France". MarineTraffic.com. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "TARA POLAR STATION, Research Vessel". VesselFinder. 2025-08-20. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Maritime, Baird (2025-07-18). "Tara Polar Station – Floating research facility built for long-term deployments to the Arctic". Baird Maritime / Work Boat World. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  5. ↑ "Tara Polar Station". Alfred Wegener Institute. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  6. 1 2 "Follow the construction of the Tara Polar Station". Fondation Tara Océan (in French). 2025-08-25. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
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