dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaTara Polaris expeditions: Sustained decadal observations of the coupled Arctic system in rapid transition
| Authors | Mathieu Ardyna, Marcel Nicolaus, Marie-Noëlle Houssais, Jean-Christophe Raut, Hélène Angot, Kelsey Bisson, Kristina A Brown, J Michel Flores, Pierre E Galand, Jean-François Ghiglione, Kathy S Law, François Ravetta, Julia Schmale, Jeroen E Sonke, Marcel Babin, Maxime Geoffroy, Lars-Eric Heimbürger-Boavida, Connie Lovejoy, Søren Rysgaard, Nina Schuback, Martin Vancoppenolle, Jean-Eric Tremblay, Chris Bowler, Lee Karp-Boss, Romain Troublé |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.08370vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08370 |
| License | http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ |
Abstract
The coupled Arctic system is in rapid transition and is set to undergo further dramatic changes over the coming decades. These changes will lead most likely to an ice-free ocean in summer, expected before mid-century. The Arctic will become more strongly influenced by atmospheric and oceanographic processes characteristic of mid-latitudes, increasing the prevalence of contaminants and new biological species. This ongoing transition of the Arctic to a new state necessitates systematic monitoring of all sentinels (variables that make an essential contribution to characterizing the Earth's state) to improve our understanding of the system, enhance forecasting and support knowledge-based decisions. Here, we describe a sustained multi-decadal observation program to be implemented on the Tara Polar Station between 2026 and 2046. The monitoring program is designed as a series of year-long drift expeditions, called Tara Polaris, in the central Arctic Ocean, covering all seasons. The multidisciplinary data will bridge ecological, geochemical, biological, and physical parameters and processes in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. In addition, data collected with consistent methodologies over a 20-year period will make it possible to distinguish long-term trends from seasonal and interannual variability. In this paper, we discuss specific measurement challenges in each compartment (i.e., atmosphere, sea ice and ocean) along key sentinels and the most pressing scientific questions to be addressed. The expected outcomes of the Tara Polaris program will enable us to understand and quantify the main feedbacks of the coupled Arctic system, with their seasonal and interannual trends and spatial variability.
{
"annotation_id": "f3df4a25-8ee3-4d89-a60c-8391a59cef5d",
"date_created": "2026-02-17T05:53:15.174000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-02-17T05:53:15.174000Z",
"file_hash": "2e484980cc1aaefc144fb4e2c09534f1152887efef31a9c05f97fdc0cbaf4b54",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "The coupled Arctic system is in rapid transition and is set to undergo further dramatic changes over the coming decades. These changes will lead most likely to an ice-free ocean in summer, expected before mid-century. The Arctic will become more strongly influenced by atmospheric and oceanographic processes characteristic of mid-latitudes, increasing the prevalence of contaminants and new biological species. This ongoing transition of the Arctic to a new state necessitates systematic monitoring of all sentinels (variables that make an essential contribution to characterizing the Earth\u0027s state) to improve our understanding of the system, enhance forecasting and support knowledge-based decisions. Here, we describe a sustained multi-decadal observation program to be implemented on the Tara Polar Station between 2026 and 2046. The monitoring program is designed as a series of year-long drift expeditions, called Tara Polaris, in the central Arctic Ocean, covering all seasons. The multidisciplinary data will bridge ecological, geochemical, biological, and physical parameters and processes in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. In addition, data collected with consistent methodologies over a 20-year period will make it possible to distinguish long-term trends from seasonal and interannual variability. In this paper, we discuss specific measurement challenges in each compartment (i.e., atmosphere, sea ice and ocean) along key sentinels and the most pressing scientific questions to be addressed. The expected outcomes of the Tara Polaris program will enable us to understand and quantify the main feedbacks of the coupled Arctic system, with their seasonal and interannual trends and spatial variability.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.08370",
"authors": [
"Mathieu Ardyna",
"Marcel Nicolaus",
"Marie-No\u00eblle Houssais",
"Jean-Christophe Raut",
"H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Angot",
"Kelsey Bisson",
"Kristina A Brown",
"J Michel Flores",
"Pierre E Galand",
"Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Ghiglione",
"Kathy S Law",
"Fran\u00e7ois Ravetta",
"Julia Schmale",
"Jeroen E Sonke",
"Marcel Babin",
"Maxime Geoffroy",
"Lars-Eric Heimb\u00fcrger-Boavida",
"Connie Lovejoy",
"S\u00f8ren Rysgaard",
"Nina Schuback",
"Martin Vancoppenolle",
"Jean-Eric Tremblay",
"Chris Bowler",
"Lee Karp-Boss",
"Romain Troubl\u00e9"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.PE"
],
"license": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
"title": "Tara Polaris expeditions: Sustained decadal observations of the coupled Arctic system in rapid transition",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08370",
"version": "v1"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "c4c4981d-29b0-4096-ab4c-7cce163beafd",
"id": "arXiv Dataset",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-01-17",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}