Microbiomes mission reaches last stop in Senegal

The laboratory ship of the Tara Océan Foundation has arrived in Senegal, the last stop in the Microbiomes mission.

Microbiomes are microorganisms in the ocean that are the first links in the food chain, essential for capturing carbon emissions.

For the first time, scientists took samples along the West African coast in order to better understand the microbiome of this part of the Atlantic, and its sensitivity to climate change and pollution.

The mission took five months to complete with stopovers in six countries.

More than 10 000 samples were collected between Cape Town and Dakar.

The ship will return to France in mid October.