Climate change has numerous impacts on the ocean and it is threatening marine biodiversity, among others that of coral reefs. As The Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (ARCCSS), an organization funded by the Australian government, has published particularly alarming news concerning corals’ health in the Great Barrier Reef, the organization Tara expeditions started a new expedition to the Asian Pacific region in order to do research on the impacts of climate change on corals. The scientists’ schooner left the harbor of Lorient on May 28 last week for an expedition of two years.

The impact of climate chance on corals

Corals provide shelter to a large biodiversity with various marine species which are necessary for the survival of coral reefs. However, this ecosystem is threatened by climate change and increasing ocean temperatures.

The destiny of the Great Barrier Reef along the Australian coast is causing particular concern to scientists, since recent studies have shown that its state of health is declining and that this degradation will even accelerate. The major problem is the phenomenon of coral bleaching which is caused by rising water temperatures, threatening the survival of different species of coral and fish.

The Tara pacific expedition 2016 – 2018

After an expedition about micro plastics in the Mediterranean, Tara starts an expedition to the archipelagos in the Asian Pacific. From the Panama channel to the Japanese archipelago (2016-2017), then from New Zealand to China (2017-2018), Tara’s schooner will explore the most isolated reefs on the planet, as well as the Great Barrier Reef. During the expedition 40 archipelagos will be examined by using the same methodology to capture the variations of species’ biodiversity in the reefs, and to analyze the capacity of the latter to adapt to environmental changes and anthropogenic pressure.

Tara Expeditions will profit from this expedition by addressing political actors and the economic world, by raising the society’s awareness about the most urgent ecological issues, as well as to the problems faced by populations which depend on healthy oceans.

The Great Barrier Reef is an extremely productive ecosystem and provides a great biological abundance which is seriously threatened by global warming and chemical waste waters in the ocean. The scientists’ expedition proposed by Tara will help us understand these issues a little bit better and will examine this fragile and endangered ecosystem.

Lea Daulan