A short visit to Tara

The French polar schooner Tara is currently moored at Bykaia here in Longyearbyen. The vessel has been drifting with the sea-ice for 510 days, until the 21st of January. It started its journey in north of Siberia and continued almost across the pole point to the Fram Straight, more or less the same journey that Fridtjof Nansen and his crew undertook on the ship Fram from 1893 to 1896. The biggest difference between the two expeditions is probably the time it took: for Fram, the passive drift lasted three years, while for Tara it took less than two years. That is because there´s less sea ice now - which may be because of climate change.


Talking about sea-ice: in a "normal" winter a few years back, this stretch of water between Bykaia and the centre of Longyearbyen would be covered with ice. All of Adventfjorden would be freezed over. This winter is the third in a row when there´s no ice, and if it doesn´t come now during the next few weeks, it won´t come at all this winter. This January Longyearbyen was almost 8 degrees warmer than average - which we can presume has something to do with there being no ice.

But it was cold enough when we visited the boat - around -20 and a freezing wind made it almost unbearable on the quay.


But warm and snug underneath deck. At least in the common room (galley?).


A little cramped in other places. Ten people have been living here since last September - and another crew of ten before that.


If you want to know more about Tara, you´ll find plenty of information on their homepage.