Indian Antarctic expedition commenced in 1981 that reached Antarctic on 08 January 1982. After operating from Ship and temporary shelters for two years, the first permanent research station “Dakshin Gangotri” was established in 1983 at 70.08˚S, 12.00˚ E over the Ice shelf in Central Dronning Maud Land region. The station was abandoned in 1990 as it got buried under snow.
Since 1988, research base Maitri (coordinates 70.77˚ S, 11.73˚ E) is operational in the central part of Schirmacher Oasis, in Central Dronning Maudland region of East Antarctica. The newly constructed Bharati station operational since March 2012, is located at 69.40˚S, 76.19˚E in Larsemann Hills, Antarctica.
India’s expedition is launched annually (once in a year) wherein about 100 to 120 members including Scientists, Engineers, Doctors and Tradesmen are sent in batches between November and January of the succeeding calendar year. So far there have been thirty five scientific expeditions including a parallel Weddle Sea Expedition in 1989 the year which had two expeditions. More than sixty institutes, R&D organizations, leading universities, survey organizations and IITs are taking part in the National endeavor and about 2500 scientists have carried out their scientific studies. A huge number of publications including international publications have been brought out by our scientists.
Currently 41 year-round permanent stations are operated by 30 nations.
The Maitri station is functional round the year. Currently, 24 personnel are deployed at the station. The Maitri Station occupies a strategic location in the Central Dronning Maud Land region of East Antarctica offering diverse opportunity of scientific research in disciplines such as Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Earth Sciences including Glaciology, Geomagnetism; Human Physiology and Medicine; Micro-biology; Environmental Sciences, etc.
The total amount of expenditure incurred both in establishing Maitri, Dakshin Gangotri and Bharati as well as sending periodic expeditions to Antarctica since its inception, i.e from 1981-82 to 2014-15 is Rs. 1473.39 crores.
Some of the significant contributions by Indian scientists to Antarctic research are:
(i) Measurements of atmospheric ozone concentrations made from the Indian Antarctic research station “Maitri” reveal that the recovery of ozone depletion does not take place as fast in Antarctica as in the Arctic.
(ii) India is among the first countries to take up magnetometer triangulation experiments in Antarctica to determine the presence and movement of small scale, auroral current systems.
(iii) Magnetic field has been reported to decrease rapidly during last century in and around Maitri. Continuous magnetic measurements at Maitri however, indicate that the rate of decline has reduced considerably during last few years.
(iv) India also tapped the opportunity of observing Shadow Bands during the unique total Solar Eclipse on 23rd November 2003 studied by Indian scientists from the icy continent. The observations have been analysed for the study of shadow bands and their relation with Total Solar Eclipse, Antarctic lower Atmosphere Boundary Layer, Solar Corona and the other features of solar activity during declining phase of the sunspot cycle.
(v) Biological Research by India in Antarctica has been focused primarily towards enumeration of the microbial biodiversity of Antarctica and also to understand the molecular basis of cold adaptation. Research on the molecular basis of cold adaptation demonstrates that cold loving bacteria adapt to low temperatures by their ability to modulate membrane fluidity by regulating the synthesis of fatty acids and carotenoids. The study of the biodiversity of cyanobacteria and algae in fresh water and terrestrial ecosystems and chemical environment of the Schirmacher Oasis has revealed that various ecosystems differ significantly.
(vi) 30 out of 240 new bacterial species discovered so far in Antarctica have been made by Indian scientists. Two genes namely t-RNA modification GTPase and aspratate aminotransferase have been identified as genes required for survival of bacteria at low temperature; a number of lipases and proteases active at low temperatures and useful for the biotechnology industry have also been identified.So far about 20,000 sq km area of the Wohlthat mountain ranges (which is in the backyard of Maitri) has been geologically mapped.
(vii) Geophysical studies have yielded gross features of the sub-glacial topography and thickness of the ice in the region south of the Schirmacher Oasis.
(viii) Maitri is one of the Global Positioning System (GPS) stations contributing to the International database.
(ix) Analysis of snow/ ice cores data has provided valuable information on the spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in the Centra Droning Maud land (CDML) region. Near the erstwhile Indian Research Station ‘Dakshin Gangotri’, a net accumulation of 62.7cm was recorded during 1999-2001. Moving south towards the continental ice sheet, an average accumulation of 10cm/yr has been computed for the last 500 years from the ice core studies (core IND22/B4). Accumulation rates recently deduced from an ice core recovered from a continental ice sheet near the Humboldt Mountains indicate an average rate of ~70cm/yr for the past two decades.
(x) An ice core of 101.4 m ice core from the CDML was recovered during the summer of 2014- the longest by Indian scientists.
(xi) The major ion analysis of an ice core provides excellent marker horizons of many volcanic eruption events such as Krakatao (1883), Tambora (1815) and Huaynaputina (1600). Studies have also revealed that the tephra accreted during the Agung (1963) and Krakatao (1883) eruptions harboured microbial cells, suggesting that volcanic ash particles could provide a significant micro-niche for microbes and nanobes in the accreted ice.
(xii) A high-resolution ice core record from coastal Antarctica reveals a doubling of dust and trace element fluxes over East Antarctica since 1980s, coinciding with the enhanced intensity of southern westerlies and polar easterlies.
(xiii) Molecular-level characterization of dissolved organic matter in Antarctic snow shows that many of the identified supraglacial organic matter formulae are consistent with material from microbial sources, and terrestrial inputs of vascular plant-derived materials are likely more important sources of organic carbon to Antarctica than previously thought.
(xiv) A 54.5 MHz Moveable Atmospheric Radar (MARA) was installed at Maitri during the summer of 2014 as a collaborative venture between ESSO -NCAOR and Swedish Institute of Space Physics to study (a) the vertical transport and mixing processes in the polar troposphere and lower stratosphere under different meteorological conditions, and (b) ice-cloud layers in the polar summer mesosphere to improve understanding of middle atmosphere dynamics and composition.
(xv) The palaeoclimatic data so far generated from Zub & Long lakes in Antarctica going back to 8,000 years before present indicate alternating arid - warm and humid climatic conditions. Studies of the samples collected from marginal Antarctic lakes in the Vestfold Hills show the presence of types of foraminifera, reflective of marine influence in the past.
(xvi) Environmental magnetism studies carried out from one of the lakes of Schirmacher Oasis indicate that the glacial periods were characterized by high magnetic mineral concentrations. The Holocene period is characterized by alternating phase of relatively warm and cold events. This study also gives evidence of Schirmacher Oasis escaping full glaciations during the past 40,000 years.
These details were given by Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Y.S.Chowdary in Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a question.
The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences
Dr. Harsh Vardhan says Procurement of all the required equipment for Research at Antarctica will be expedited The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has conveyed good wishes of Shri Narendra Modi government to all the scientists at the Bharati research station at Antarctica from the National Center for Antarctica and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in Goa. He was speaking in a tele-conference with them from NCAOR last evening. The minister earlier visited all the labs and facilities at the institute. Various scientists thereat have briefed him of the research findings. The issue of increasing level of carbon dioxide in atmosphere and its impact on climate change over the years also came up for discussion. The minister said that processes for procurement of all the required equipment for research at Antarctica will be expedited so that effective research is undertaken there.
National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences established a high altitude research station in Himalaya called HIMANSH (literally meaning, a slice of ice), situated above 13,500 ft (> 4000 m) at a remote region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. This station is equipped with instruments such as Automatic Weather Station, Water Level Recorder, Steam Drill, Snow/Ice Corer, Ground Penetrating Radar, Differential Global positioning System, Snow Fork, Flow Tracker, Thermister string, Radiometer etc. Water Level Recorders were installed at five locations along with a stretch of 130 km of Chandra River in Western Himalaya for hydrological balance/modeling. Glaciers were monitored for mass balance, dynamics, energy balance and hydrology.
Under the Arctic observations program, the Indian Arctic mooring (IndARC-II) was retrieved on 26th July 2016, following which IndARC III was re-deployed successfully on 27th July 2016. The Ambient Noise Measurement System with a single hydrophone and a data acquisition system was deployed on IndARC-II. The IndARC-II collected more than 116 parameters and worked continuously for 373 days in the Arctic waters. During the year, 17 projects covering different aspects oceanography, atmospheric sciences, geology and glaciology were implemented at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway.
IndARC-II in the Arctic
IXth Southern Ocean Expedition was launched on-board Oceanographic Research Vessel MV Agulhas [South African vessel] from Port Louis, Mauritius during December, 2016. The observations will be made upto Prydz Bay, the coastal waters of India's third station in Antarctica "Bharati'.
Ministry of Earth Sciences signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), for exploration of Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) in Indian Ocean. The contract was signed by Dr. M Rajeevan, Secretary, MoES and Mr. Nii Allotey Odunton, Secretary General, ISA. The ISA is an institution set up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a Party.
Ministry of Earth Sciences submitted an application to International Seabed Authority for extension of contract for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules (PMN) for a further period of 5 years (2017-22). The contract signed with International Seabed of Authority for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules on 25th March 2002 is expiring on 24th March 2017. The PMN programme is oriented towards exploration and development of technologies for eventual extraction of nodules lying on the seabed at 4000 to 6000 m water depth from the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) allocated to India by UN. India is presently having an area of 75,000 square km, located about 2000 km away from her southern tip.
Indigenously developed 500 m depth rated shallow water/polar remotely operated vehicle (PROVe) was successfully deployed, in the Andaman coral Islands and the vehicle was successfully maneuvered in the undulating reef terrain to record high quality underwater visuals of coral reef biodiversity with spectral irradiance.
29.10.2014
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the acquisition of Polar Research Vessel (Ice-breaker, Research cum Supply Vessel) by the Ministry of Earth Sciences at a total cost of Rs. 1051.13 crore within a period of 34 months.
