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.
*****
KSP/SS