Imagine spending eight months aboard a ship frozen into Arctic pack ice, with no sunlight for the majority of it, and the nearest help potentially a week away. That is precisely what a crew of 12 scientists, engineers, sailors, and a physician has agreed to do, and they’re doing it entirely on purpose.
This July, the 26-meter research vessel and platform Tara Polar Station is set to leave France, pick up several scientists in northern Norway and head into Russian waters. By mid-September 2026, the ship is expected to be encased in pack ice in the central Arctic Ocean, where its crew of 12 will drift for eight months through the Arctic winter and into spring, according to the Tara Ocean Foundation.
