Scientists Scrutinize World’s Waters Testing Marine Plankton and Pollution

The survey was conducted from the 33-year-old cod survey schooner, which returned to her home port of Lorient on the west coast of France over the weekend.

“All this data is analyzed,” Roman Trouble, director of the Tara Ocean Foundation, said at a press conference.

Microbes at the bottom of the food chain are the “sea blind people,” Trouble says, accounting for two-thirds of the ocean’s biomass.

Trouble said the mission is trying to find out how it works.

“How will that change tomorrow due to climate change and pollution?”

They wanted to test the theory that deforestation and agricultural expansion are increasing nitrate fertilizer emissions, and that toxic algae are abundant, especially on the riverbanks and coasts of the Caribbean.

The mission was Tara’s 12th trip around the world and involved 42 research institutes around the world.

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first published as Scientists Scrutinize World’s Waters Testing Marine Plankton and Pollution