Posted: Dec 06, 2007 12:35 am EST
(TheOceans.net/ThePoles.com) Early July the snow melted, the first rains arrived and the Yamal Icebreaker passed nearby with 130 tourists headed to the North Pole.

Fast forward 5 months and we find Tara at 80° 25’ 13” N 3° 35’ 12” W. On her 458th day, the main focus now is return to sea. Tara and her crew will experience a crucial moment by drifting in the Fram strait to exit the Arctic Ocean.

Nansen’s Fram lived through it more than 115 years ago. "The tales of the Fram Strait descent are very rare, nearly non existent, so we are in the phase of the drift the least well known," the crew reports. Three phenomenons might make this stage a tricky one for the polar schooner and her crew:

1. The weather system
2. The geographic situation of the strait
3. And the unknown regarding the location and date of the pack ice exit.

Iffy exit

Here goes the latest report:

"The ice drifts at great speed in this region. It is submitted to strong Northern winds generated by the Greenland anticyclone. Tara has already recorded a 1,5 km/H drift during one week (twice as faster than usual) at the end of November during the most violent storm experienced since the beginning of the expedition. The wind blew up to 100 km/h."

"The drift’s speed is handling roughly the ice, the energy is colossal and is expressed by the rapid formation of ice heaps or sudden openings. If one adds to this the icebergs of several thousand tons generated by the Greenland ice peak, one gets an explosive cocktail."

"For her exit, Tara had two major possibilities: either to leave by 80°North near Spitzberg, or to drift more to the South along the ice coasts of Greenland. In the past days, the trend is more for Tara to go toward the Greenland coast. The schooner could drift some more in this chaos for several weeks and finish her journey North of Island 1200 km South of the strait."

"Tara risks thus to exit at mid-point between Longyearbyen and Island in a raging sea with many storms at this time of the year."

Helicopter rotation

"The way the situation has developed, we are organising for logistics purposes a helicopter rotation, before the exit, around mid-december during the full moon days. This contact with Tara will enable to bring fresh food supplies, maybe even some Christmas gifts and some reinforcement with sailors for the last days of the drift. The helicopter will fly at night time and will land on the pack ice next to Tara after a three hour flight by re-supplying out at sea on a Norwegian coastguard ship."

Meanwhile, Samuel and Grant dove under the boat yesterday for an evaluation of the ice, as Tara leaves the cold Arctic basin meeting the warmer Atlantic water. "The propellers are OK, but the cage seems somewhat deformed. Even form, even draught (8 meters), but its contours erode more and more," Sam reported after his cold dive.

Out on a two year exploration of the Arctic, this winter Tara drifted with the moving ice past the North Pole, and toward the Northeast side of Greenland. The rounded and flat hull of the 116-foot ship allows her to remain frozen safely in spite of the extreme pressures applied by the pack-ice.

The brainchild of DAMOCLES; Tara's mission is to study the Arctic environment and many of the specialized pieces of equipment and techniques used onboard require the presence of humans. The goal of the study is to enrich our knowledge of the relationship between sea ice coverage, atmospheric conditions, the circulation of Arctic Ocean waters, and the impact changes may have on the natural system and the human activities that depend on it. DAMOCLES is coordinated by Jean-Claude Gascard of the University Pierre et Marie Curie in France.

Beyond the technical challenges, Jean-Claude notes that the greatest challenge for humans is to be able to tolerate the Arctic winter, “in a very hostile environment.” The all-volunteer crew of eight males is led by an engineer from New Zealand who is skilled in sailing and has worked in similar isolated situations in Antarctica. Two mechanics, a doctor, two science technicians, and two experienced sailors accompany him. The lead engineer wants to stay on board Tara for the full two years, while other members of the crew will be rotated in and out of the ship over time.

The Tara Arctic expedition, along with DAMOCLES, will provide scientists with a cross section of all physical and many biological parameters across the Arctic. Gascard hopes that the results “will be used as a resource in Arctic science research,” and he notes that the data will not be protected, but will be available to all scientists for use in their own research.

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