Science vessel sails on climate voyage
The French yacht Tara left Sunday on the second leg of a three-year
expedition across the world's oceans to chart the effects of climate
change on micro-organisms which produce half our oxygen.
French yacht Tara sails in Table Bay in Cape Town. AFP |
The 36-metre (118-foot) schooner sailed from Cape Town a year after
leaving Lorient in western France to head across the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans for New Zealand next August as part of a
150,000-kilometre (93,750-mile) journey. "We are going to Ascension
Island - we'll be there in one month and then in Rio in the middle of
October," said captain Olivier Marien shortly ahead of the yacht's
departure.
"We have a busy schedule on the way so we will make several stops.
Tomorrow will be the first sampling off the South African waters."
The plankton-studying boat will then sail to Argentina and further
south to Antarctica.
The crew are collecting samples which are frozen onboard and sent to
laboratories every month to map out a baseline for future climate
studies.
"We know now that the planet is changing, and the ocean is changing,
and we expect much from the ocean to counterbalance what the humans are
doing on the planet," Philippe Koubbi, the chief scientist on board told
AFP on Friday.
"We know that some of the tiny plankton are threatened ... and we
know that tiny animals or these tiny plants are very very important in
controlling the balance in the ocean."
A bio-bank is being created from the research, ranging from viruses
and bacteria to fish larvae, and more than 100 scientists are involved
in the project.
Plankton ecosystems are little known but the microorganisms absorb
half of the world's carbon production and produce as much oxygen as
forests.
Olivier Marien, Captain of French yacht, Tara. AFP |
"This is really what this expedition is really about - is really to
look at this planktonic life which is really in the open ocean, really
controlling everything," said Koubbi.
A 13-person team will leave Cape Town, where the yacht spent time in
dry-dock, with early spring making weather the main challenge and not
threats such as sea pirates which were the main concern in the first
leg.
The return to ice will be familiar territory for the 1989-built
vessel - now on its eighth scientific voyage - which was previously
named Antarctica and ended a 507-day Arctic trip in 2008.
Next year Tara will also sail via Chile, Easter Island, the Galapagos
Islands, the Clipperton Islands, the Marquesas Islands and Papeete.
The first leg crossed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Arabian
Sea and Indian Ocean.
AFP |