By Lee Karp-Boss
Professor, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine
A new research station has begun drifting with sea ice in the high Arctic, marking the start of an ambitious international effort to study one of the fastest-changing and least-understood regions on Earth.
On Sept. 9, reached its target location in the central Arctic Ocean at approximately 82.4oN and 155.1oE. An accompanying research icebreaker helped clear a path through the ice to the station鈥檚 deployment site.
Now moored to a large ice floe, the station has begun its drift. As winter cold stabilizes the surrounding ice, scientists and crew will begin observations and sampling that will continue through the polar night and into next summer.
The expedition is the first of 10 repeated drifts planned as part of the Tara Polaris program (2026 through 2046). The program was developed jointly by the French non-profit Tara Ocean Foundation, with support from the French government and the European Union, and an international consortium of scientists. The program is designed to provide something scientists have rarely had in the high Arctic: sustained, long-term observations of the ocean, ice and atmosphere across seasons and years.
By studying those systems together, researchers hope to better understand how the Arctic is changing, how its ecosystems are responding and what those changes could mean for the global climate, productivity of the Arctic Ocean and food security, as well as Arctic conservation and policies. The Polaris I expedition involves 80 scientists from 32 institutions in 12 countries, including the University of Maine.
I have spent the past seven years working with the Tara Ocean Foundation and the international team of scientists preparing for this mission. Hearing that the Tara Polar Station made it safely to the starting point and is now anchored to the chosen ice floe is thrilling. The large ice floe, about 15 miles long and over three feet thick, will soon become the 鈥渨inter wonderland鈥 for the 12-member winter team aboard the Tara Polar Station. The team includes four sailors, six scientists, a doctor and a media specialist..
The team will spend eight months in the high Arctic and collect samples throughout the polar night, a period during which scientific observations remain especially limited. Yet processes that occur in winter set the stage for the following spring鈥檚 growth season. When my colleagues and I join the expedition in spring 2027, we will be building on these observations.
The high Arctic is changing rapidly. The old, thick, multiyear sea ice that once covered much of the region is giving way to younger, thinner ice that breaks apart and melts more readily. Climate models project that the Arctic Ocean could experience nearly ice-free summers by the middle of this centuryBecause sea ice helps regulate Earth鈥檚 climate and provides essential habitat for Arctic organisms, those changes have consequences far beyond the Arctic.
The region is one of the most difficult places on Earth to study. Its remoteness, persistent sea ice and extreme conditions require complex logistics and often large icebreakers. Research expeditions have therefore been relatively infrequent, leaving major gaps in scientists鈥 understanding of how the ecosystem functions across seasons and from year to year. We are in a race to establish a clear environmental and ecological baseline just as the ecosystem itself is being transformed.
The retreat of sea ice is also opening new possibilities for shipping, tourism, resource extraction and fisheries, bringing additional pressures to an already vulnerable ecosystem. Long-term observations can help scientists understand those changes and provide information that can guide future decisions.
Tara Polar Station is designed to provide those observations.
A research station designed to drift with the ice
The unusually shaped vessel was conceived by the French nonprofit Tara Ocean Foundation as an observatory capable of studying the Arctic over the next two decades. It was built in France with funds provided by the French government, the EU and other federal and private contributions.
Rather than avoiding sea ice, .
Its rounded profile and reinforced aluminum hull allow the station to rise as the surrounding ice compresses rather than being crushed by it. It can operate autonomously for up to 500 days in temperatures as low as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit and gives scientists direct access to the ice and ocean beneath it through a moon pool.
The station left its home port in Lorient, France, on July 19. After stopping in Norway, it continued to the expedition鈥檚 starting point with its first overwintering crew aboard.
The 12-member team is expected to spend more than eight months aboard, including about four months of polar night, before being relieved in spring.
With only a few scientists aboard, research activities are supported by multiple teams on shore, much like operations aboard the International Space Station. Our goal is to understand how sea ice, the ocean and the atmosphere interact over timescales ranging from days and seasons to years, and how those changes affect the productivity, biodiversity and functioning of the Arctic ecosystem. Scientists also will collect samples to study contaminants, including mercury and PFAS.
What lives beneath Arctic ice?
For me, one of the most important opportunities offered by Tara Polar Station is the chance to better understand life in one of Earth鈥檚 least-studied ecosystems.
The Arctic may seem an unlikely place to support much biodiversity. Yet within and beneath the ice are communities of microscopic organisms that form the foundation of Arctic food webs, ultimately supporting fish, seabirds and marine mammals.
These microbes have evolved ways to survive one of the harshest environments on Earth, including months of darkness when photosynthesis is impossible.
Understanding those adaptations could help scientists learn how Arctic ecosystems respond to environmental change. Some of these organisms also could provide useful models for considering how life might survive in other icy environments, including ocean worlds such as Jupiter鈥檚 moon Europa and Saturn鈥檚 moon Enceladus.
As Arctic summer sea ice continues to decline, scientists have a narrowing opportunity to document how this living habitat functions before it changes further.
A long-term vision for Arctic research
The Tara Ocean Foundation plans to repeat drifting expeditions over the next 20 years, creating a long-term observing platform in the high Arctic.
Instead of relying primarily on snapshots collected during occasional icebreaker expeditions, scientists will be able to observe the region repeatedly across seasons and years as the Arctic continues to change.
Because Tara Polar Station has a much smaller footprint than an icebreaker, it can operate more economically and with less environmental impact. The trade-off is that only a small scientific team can live aboard at one time.
A trained group of researchers and crew will conduct experiments and collect samples on behalf of an international consortium involving 32 laboratories in 12 countries.
Preparing for the mission required a major effort to develop clear research protocols, install and test instruments, and train the overwintering team so samples can be collected consistently and preserved for analysis in laboratories around the world.
What began more than seven years ago as an ambitious idea is now underway.
Tara Polar Station is beginning to provide something scientists urgently need: sustained observations from the heart of one of Earth鈥檚 fastest-changing and least-understood ecosystems.
Those observations can help us understand how life survives within and beneath the ice, how that ecosystem is changing and what those changes may mean for the broader climate system in the decades ahead.
Lee Karp-Boss is a biological oceanographer and professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. One of three scientific co-chairs of the Tara Polar Station Executive Committee, she will serve as chief scientist during the expedition鈥檚 spring 2027 research leg.
