Estonian researcher took part in cutting-edge polar research vessel test
The recent successful testing of a state of the art drifting polar research vessel included an Estonian crew member.
The Tara Polar Station has been designed and built for the study of climate change in the Arctic, with the first test involving drifting across the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic, from Svalbard to Iceland, a distance of around 2,000 kilometers
The expedition also included Estonian polar researcher Timo Palo, who said that the longest climate studies in the Arctic ever undertaken lie ahead through the Tara's work.
Backed by the French state, the Tara Polar Station is an aluminum vessel which cost over €30 million and which can accommodate a crew of up to 18. It is built specifically for drifting in ice, effectively making it a floating scientific laboratory, where most of the research is carried out inside the vessel.
Only two months ago, none of the 11 crew members currently on board, Palo among them, still did not fully know how the spacecraft-like vessel might behave in water and ice. As it turned out things went well.
"We managed well. It works as expected. It has such a shape so that it can rise as easily as possible to the surface of the ice as a result of ice pressure," Palo said.
"The majority of the oceanographic measurements are all carried out inside the vessel and to do this there is a cylindrical cavity in the middle of the ship. Essentially, there is a hole in the bottom of the vessel, called 'the moon pool.' This is intended for lowering all the instruments that are used to take analysis from ocean water, while in the same way it is possible to send from remotely operated robots, also present on board the vessel, under the ice through this aperture," Palo went on.
According to Palo, the Arctic is the epicenter of climate change, and changes occur there faster and more extensively than they do elsewhere. To better understand how the rapidly warming Arctic is affecting the weather and sea systems across the entire planet, the Tara Ocean Foundation has launched the ambitious Tara Polaris Arctic Ocean research program.
The project will amass measurements and collect data over a 20-year period.
"We project that the length of a drift will be about a year or up to a year and a half. After that the Tara will return briefly to its home port, take on new equipment, tune up the scientific apparatus tech, then new personnel come on board, and so it goes for 20 consecutive years," Palo explained.
This will allow for about 10 drifting voyages across the 20-year time span. This sequence of drifts over 20 consecutive years makes it possible to collect this data for a very long period and to observe changes," said Palo.
The cycle starts next year.
The Tara Polar Station site is here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
