Open science resources for the discovery and analysis of Tara Oceans data

TLDR

The Tara Oceans expedition (2009–2013) sampled diverse ocean ecosystems, collecting extensive environmental and planktonic data from viruses to metazoans for subsequent analysis with modern sequencing and imaging technologies. To address the challenge of interpreting this extensive collection, the Tara Oceans Consortium offers open science resources, including open access archives and online discovery and annotation tools. The consortium surveyed 210 ecosystems in 20 biogeographic provinces, collecting over 35,000 seawater and plankton samples, and provides detailed registries of all campaigns, stations, and sampling events, with data archived in ENA and PANGAEA.

Abstract

Abstract The Tara Oceans expedition (2009–2013) sampled contrasting ecosystems of the world oceans, collecting environmental data and plankton, from viruses to metazoans, for later analysis using modern sequencing and state-of-the-art imaging technologies. It surveyed 210 ecosystems in 20 biogeographic provinces, collecting over 35,000 samples of seawater and plankton. The interpretation of such an extensive collection of samples in their ecological context requires means to explore, assess and access raw and validated data sets. To address this challenge, the Tara Oceans Consortium offers open science resources, including the use of open access archives for nucleotides (ENA) and for environmental, biogeochemical, taxonomic and morphological data (PANGAEA), and the development of on line discovery tools and collaborative annotation tools for sequences and images. Here, we present an overview of Tara Oceans Data, and we provide detailed registries (data sets) of all campaigns (from port-to-port), stations and sampling events.