The research
The plastic
mystery
Since 2010, the schooner has been collecting microplastics (from 0.2 to < 5mm in diameter) in her nets. The evidence is clear: microplastics are ubiquitous throughout the oceans.
In 2014, Tara focused on this pollution in the Mediterranean Sea. Then in 2017, we discovered an important zone of plastic accumulation in the Arctic Ocean, and in 2018, we identified the biodiversity associated with microplastics in the north Pacific vortex. Now the schooner Tara identifies the sources of this pollution to evaluate the impact of plastics from land to sea.
The plastic
mystery
Identify and understand:
close-up on
microplastics
Samples of microplastics are collected using manta nets with different mesh sizes towed on the water’s surface and to a depth of 50 meters.
Sample from a 60 cm wide manta net dragged along the distance of a football field, in the heart of the North Pacific “continent of plastic.”
40 scientists pursuing 2 common goals.
Marine biologists, ecotoxicologists, oceanographers, modelers, chemists and physicists constitute an interdisciplinary team currently sailing the major rivers of Europe to:
Marine biologists, ecotoxicologists, oceanographers, modelers, chemists and physicists constitute an interdisciplinary team currently sailing the major rivers of Europe to:
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Identify sources of pollution, understand their fragmentation in the rivers, and predict their dispersion in the Ocean
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Understand the impacts on biodiversity and the toxicity of microplastics on organisms. Samples are being harvested in the land-sea continuum where freshwater meets salt water: in rivers and estuaries; in the sea on the four European maritime facades: the North Sea, Baltic Sea, Atlantic coast and Mediterranean Sea.
From Ocean to land,
Tara leads the investigation
to find the sources of plastic pollution
How are samples taken from the ocean and rivers?
How are samples taken from the ocean and rivers?
