Marine Institute researcher to lead landmark international Arctic expedition
Dr. Maxime Geoffroy has been selected as the chief research scientist aboard the Tara polar station. The news was confirmed by the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University this morning.
He is the only Canadian scientist participating in one of the world’s most ambitious Arctic research drifts.
Dr. Geoffroy and his team are currently undergoing final preparations before the state-of-the-art Tara polar research station begins its highly anticipated eight-month drift through the central Arctic Ocean.
This month, Dr. Geoffroy will join an international team of 12 scientists and crew members on an approximately 250-day expedition organized by the Tara Ocean Foundation. The purpose-built Tara polar station is a geodesic, aluminum-clad station that features observatory windows, a saucer-shaped hull and a moon pool for under-ice sampling. It will travel under its own power to the Arctic Ocean before becoming embedded in the sea ice. Researchers will work a minimum of eight hours daily, but they will be virtually encased in their work 24/7. There are no crew changes, and the team will be fully isolated for the duration of the expedition’s drift.
It is a journey into one of the least understood areas on Earth. The scientists and crew were carefully selected for their expertise and their compatibility with one another.
As chief research scientist, Dr. Geoffroy will help lead the mission’s scientific program, overseeing the collection of critical environmental data while contributing research focused on how seasonal changes shape Arctic marine ecosystems.
“While stimulating, human interactions in a small, confined space can be challenging,” said Dr. Geoffroy, whose expertise is in bioacoustics, marine ecology and biological oceanography and who is based at the Marine Institute’s Centre for Fisheries and Ecosystems Research. “We’re not there to carry out our own individual projects. We’re there to deliver science for an international community.”
The mission will contribute to international scientific understanding and help inform future policy discussions about the central Arctic Ocean. By remaining embedded in the ice from late summer through winter and into spring, researchers will gather long-term observations rarely possible through traditional expeditions.
Dr. Geoffroy’s selection reflects both his internationally recognized expertise in Arctic marine science and the growing global reputation of Marine Institute researchers. As the Tara polar station prepares to begin its Arctic drift, Dr. Geoffroy will play a leading role in a mission expected to generate vital new insights into a region changing faster than almost anywhere else on Earth.
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