10. September 2026

Press releases

A year in the ice: Tara Polar Station begins its drift through the central Arctic

Twelve people on board are setting off on a year-long expedition across the Arctic Ocean to observe changes on the ground

[Translate to English:] Tara Polar Station staretet Drift im Nordpolarmeer — Tara Polar Station starts Drift (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institute / Julia Regnery)

The Tara Polar Station – a ship built specifically for polar missions by the French organisation Tara Ocean Foundation – is deliberately allowing itself to become trapped in the sea ice in order to explore the Arctic Ocean. Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute are also taking part in the Tara Polaris I expedition (2026–2027). The Tara Polar Station has now reached the ice floe; the resulting drift marks the start of an international research programme planned for the next two decades. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the state of our planet’s only polar ocean, as well as the state of the Earth itself.

At 82°24’ North, 155°03’ East, the Tara Polar Station reached a large ice floe at 10:00 on 9 September 2026; this will serve as the base for extensive research into the Arctic Ocean over the coming year. The Polaris I expedition thus continues the scientific work carried out by the schooner Tara 20 years ago, as well as by the MOSAiC project, which is led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), in 2019–20. The Tara Polar Station was accompanied into the ice by the Xue Long 2, a research icebreaker belonging to the Chinese Polar Research Institute. “This is a very important moment for the Tara Ocean Foundation, but also for polar research in general. Over ten years ago, we first conceived the idea of establishing this polar station, which is designed to conduct long-term research in the Arctic across all seasons. I would like to thank our teams and our partners for the success of the project,” says Romain Troublé, Executive Director of the Tara Ocean Foundation.

AWI sea ice researcher Dr Marcel Nicolaus, who helped shape the research programme together with many scientific partners, says: “We are delighted that the Tara Polar Station is now embarking on its first drift with Polaris I. What makes this programme special is that a total of ten expeditions are planned over the next 20 years. This will enable us to systematically observe changes in the Arctic directly on site over the long term. In doing so, we will gain a better understanding of the underlying processes.”

The Tara Polar Station set sail from its home port of Lorient on 19 July 2026, reaching Norway in August, where the first overwintering crew came on board in Kirkenes; they are due to be relieved next spring. The overwintering team for the Tara Polaris I expedition will spend more than eight months together and consists of four seafarers, a doctor, a ship’s reporter and six scientists, including atmospheric researcher Dr Julia Regnery from the AWI. She reports: “We’ve been at sea since 22 August, and every day is exciting. First, we crossed the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea – it was quite a bumpy ride, but we made it safely. Reaching the first sea ice and sailing along the ice edge to our rendezvous with the Xue Long 2 north of the New Siberian Islands provided us with some wonderful moments. We are now eagerly awaiting the station to freeze over so that we can begin our measurements. We’re measuring hundreds of parameters in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean, and have over 220 measurement logs for this. We see our role as similar to that of astronauts: rather than conducting our own research, we’re collecting data for the 32 participating partners. I’m responsible for the atmospheric measurements and do a lot of work for the sea ice programme on board; for example, I coordinate the deployment of the underwater robot that the AWI has contributed to the project.”

The plan is for Marcel Nicolaus to operate this underwater robot (ROV), called Ann, from Bremerhaven as well, thereby supporting the team on site. Ann measures the properties of the sea ice from below; she maps the thickness of the sea ice, has several cameras and sensors on board, and detects the light that reaches the water through the ice and the overlying snow cover. This is particularly exciting in spring and autumn – seasons for which very little data is currently available. This makes it possible to calculate the energy reaching the water and further warming the Arctic Ocean. Changes in the ocean, such as the stratification of different water masses and the exchange of energy and nutrients, are the focus of the oceanographic work. AWI researcher Dr Benjamin Rabe has contributed to this scientific focus; like Marcel Nicolaus, he is due to relieve the overwintering team next year and will then continue the sampling work for the Tara Polaris I project.

Further Sources:
A timelapse video of Tara Polar Station and Xue Long 2 can be found here: https://video.panomax.com/cams/12448/videos/timelapse/2026/09/10/12448_2026-09-10_00-00-00_small.mp4
Tara Polar Foundation provides further informationen and further images.
The sea ice portal provides insights from the expedition and Julia Regnery and Marcel Nicolaus report on Polaris I on Instagram chanel 2imEis.

Background:
Scientific cooperation, a cornerstone of the Tara Polaris programme (2026–2046). Launched on France’s initiative as part of its polar strategy and with the support of the European Union, the Tara Polaris programme (2026–2046) will bear witness to the dramatic changes taking place in the Arctic Ocean. A true scientific hub, Tara Polar Station will welcome researchers from all over the world (biologists, physicists, ecologists, glaciologists, atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, etc.) throughout its expeditions. The first expedition, Tara Polaris I (2026–2027), brings together more than thirty partner laboratories and institutions from 12 countries, united within a consortium led by Dr Marcel Babin, a CNRS polar oceanographer at the Takuvik Laboratory (CNRS/Laval University/Sorbonne), who serves as its Scientific director.

32 institutions and 38 laboratories involved in Tara Polaris I (2026–2027):
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) through the following laboratories:
Takuvik, the Laboratory of Oceanography and Climate (LOCEAN), the Laboratory of Atmospheres and Space Observations (LATMOS), the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE), the Villefranche Oceanography Laboratory (LOV), the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), the Microbial Oceanography Laboratory (LOMIC), the Laboratory of Ecogeochemistry of Benthic Environments (LECOB), Toulouse Environmental Geosciences (GET), the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology (IBPC), the Genoscope, the Laboratory of Cellular and Plant Physiology (LPCV), the Institute of Biology at the École normale supérieure (IBENS), the Centre for Training and Research on Mediterranean Environments (CEFREM) and the Roscoff Biological Station (SBR).

International partners:
Laval University, the University of Maine, the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Swiss Polar Institute (SPI), Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), the University of Manitoba, the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), Sorbonne University, the Arctic University of Norway (UiT), the Paul-Émile-Victor French Polar Institute (IPEV), the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), the Free University of Brussels (ULB), Aarhus University (AU), the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), the University of Victoria (UVic), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), Ohio State University (OSU), the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), the University of Washington (UW), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Kyoto University, the University of Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD), the University of Bergen (UiB), Paris-Saclay University and the University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA).

Contact

Science

Marcel Nicolaus

Marcel.Nicolaus@awi.de

+49(471)4831-2905

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Folke Mehrtens

Folke.Mehrtens@awi.de

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[Translate to English:] Tara Polar Station — Tara Polar Station, an autonomous marine observatory and laboratory belonging to the French Tara Ocean Foundation. This station is a platform designed primarily for ice drifting. It can remain in the Arctic for up to 500 days. Picture from trials in 2025 (Photo: Alfred-Wegener-Institut)