Data measured during the Tara Oceans Pacific Expedition, 2016-2018

Tara Oceans Polar Circle 2013

Tara Oceans Polar Circle 2013

Measurements taken in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean in 1996.

Measurements made in the northwest Atlantic and northeast Pacific oceans between 2008 and 2009.

Measurements made in the west-central Pacific near Wake Island in 2007.

Measurements made in the western Pacific Ocean during September 1998.

Measurements made during Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Ocean Transect (MIPOT) cruises in 2001.

Measurements from Indonesia made during 1998.

The Tara Oceans expedition, a 2.5-year long and 57,000 mile long trajectory, was conceived to provide a snapshot of the distribution of planktonic organisms in the world ocean, providing 'A global-scale study of morphological, genetic, and functional biodiversity of plankton organisms in relation to the changing physico-chemical parameters of the oceans' (Karsenti et al., 2011). The expedition took place from September 2009 to March 2012, spanned the majority of the world's oceans, and included, besides a large array of biological sampling, hydrographic measurements, optical measurements of surface hyper-spectral particulate absorption and attenuation, hyper-spectral reflectance and HPLC pigments.E. Karsenti, S.G. Acinas, P. Bork, C. Bowler, C. De Vargas, J. Raes, and 22 co-authors, A holistic approach to marine eco-systems biology, PLoS Biol. 9, e1001177, (2011), doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001177.