View of lava fields and snow-capped peaks in the distance, Etna, Sicily, Italy, Mediterranean, Europe

Polar bear on ice looking at camera, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Norway, Polar Regions

Aerial of the curvy Pia glacier, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, South America

Cave dwelling among euphorbia, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, Atlantic Ocean, Europe

Views of Bjornsundet (Bear Sound), near the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway, Arctic, Europe

Ice in all of its myriad forms in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway, Arctic, Europe

Ice in all of its myriad forms in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway, Arctic, Europe

Lava and ash floes in the Galapagos Island Archipelago, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ecuador, South America

Floating iceberg near the Eqi glacier, Ilulissat, Western Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Chachani volcano, Arequipa Province, Arequipa Region, Peru, South America

El Misti and Chachani volcanoes seen from salt flats of Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, Arequipa Region, Peru, South America

El Teide National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Atlantic, Europe

A view of the island of Bartolome in the Galapagos Islands, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ecuador, South America

Example of the thick foliage and undercut islets, Palau, Micronesia, Pacific

View of glacial ice on Alexander Island in Franz Josef Land, Russia, Arctic Ocean, Eurasia

Close up of ice in the Nuuk Icefjord, Western Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Glacial iceberg detail from ice calved off the South Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm, Southeast Alaska, Pacific Ocean, United States of America, North America

Floating iceberg near the Eqi glacier, Ilulissat, Western Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Little boat between the icebergs of the Ilulissat Icefjord, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Western Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Aerial of Kulusuk, Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Aerial of an iceberg in the Nuuk Icefjord, Western Greenland, Denmark, Polar Regions

Aerial of Pia glacier and its fjord, Tierra del Fuego, Chile, South America

Elephant (Loxodonta africana), giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), steppe, aridity, drought, climate change, safari, tourism, travel, Savuti region, Chobe National Park, Botswana, Africa

Tara Oceans Expeditions - May 2011. Tara with deployed plancton nets. On "station", the boat is drifting without engine or sails. Tara Oceans, a unique expedition: Tara Oceans is the very first attempt to make a global study of marine plankton, a form of sea life that includes organisms as small as viruses and bacterias, and as big as medusas. Our goal is to better understand planktonic ecosystems by exploring the countless species, learning about interactions among them and with their environment. Marine plankton is the only ecosystem that is almost continuous over the surface of the Earth. Studying plankton is like taking the pulse of our planet. Recently, scientists have discovered the great importance of plankton for the climate: populations of plankton are affected very rapidly by variations in climate. But in turn they can influence the climate by modifying the absorption of carbon. In a context of rapid physico-chemical changes, for example the acidification observed today in the world's oceans, it is urgent to understand and predict the evolution of these particular ecosystems. Finally, plankton is an astonishing way of going back in time ? a prime source of fossils. Over the eons, plankton has created several hundred meters of sediment on the ocean floors. This allows us to go back in time, to the first oceans on Earth, and better understand the history of our biosphere. More than 12 fields of research are involved in the project, which will bring together an international team of oceanographers, ecologists, biologists, geneticists, and physicists from prestigious laboratories headed by Eric Karsenti of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Galapagos