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Environment

A floating laboratory will uncover the secrets of Arctic winter

The Tara Polar Station, a $23 million research vessel with a crew of 12, will drift across the Arctic ice to enable better monitoring of a rapidly changing environment

By Madeleine Cuff

21 April 2025

The TARA Polar Station is undergoing sea trials this year before heading to the Arctic

Maéva Bardy/Fondation Tara Océan

In 1893, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen left Norway on a mission to drift across the North Pole. His vessel, the Fram, had been specially designed with a rounded hull so it would sit on top of the Arctic ice, gently ferrying its crew over the Arctic.

Nansen never made it to the North Pole, but after three years locked in the ice, the Fram emerged in the North Atlantic Ocean. The voyage was the first in history to…

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