India has successfully launched the 41st scientific expedition to Antarctica as the first batch of its contingent reached the southern white continent. The first batch comprising 23 scientists and support staff reached the Indian Antarctic station — Maitri — last week. Four more batches will reach Antarctica by air and chartered ice-class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovnin by mid-January 2022.

Indian Antarctic programme

• The importance of Antarctica as a pedestal for front-ranking scientific research was recognised by India way back in 1981 itself, when the first Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica was launched. 

• Since then, India has made great strides in initiating scientific projects of both national and global relevance as well as in catering to the entire gamut of complex logistics operations called for, in the annual expeditions to Antarctica. 

• Experiments mounted by Indian scientists in such disciplines as atmospheric sciences and meteorology, earth sciences and glaciology, biology and environmental sciences have also contributed directly to global experiments mounted under the aegis of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). 

• The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa — an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences — manages the entire Indian Antarctic programme.

• The Indian research station Maitri has served as a platform for collaborative studies with some Antarctic Treaty nations — Germany, Italy, France, Poland and the US. It has also facilitated scientists from Malaysia, Columbia, Peru and Mauritius to work in Antarctica.

Research base stations in Antarctica

Since 1981, India has completed 40 scientific expeditions and built three permanent research base stations in Antarctica — Dakshin Gangotri (1983), Maitri (1988) and Bharati (2012).

Dakshin Gangotri was established in 1983 over the Ice Shelf in Central Dronning Maud Land region. The station was abandoned in 1990 as it got buried under snow.

Currently, Maitri and Bharati are fully operational. 

Maitri has been operational since 1989 in the central part of Schirmacher Oasis, in Central Dronning Maudland region of East Antarctica. The Maitri station is functional round the year. It serves as a gateway to one of the largest mountain chains in central Dronning Maud land, located south of Schirmacher. It is an inland station about 100 km from the shore at an elevation of about 50 meters above sea level. It can support 25 persons in the main building during summers as well as winters and about 40 in the summer facility consisting of containerised living modules.

Bharati is located between Thala Fjord & Quilty bay, east of Stornes Peninsula in Antarctica. The station was commissioned on March 18, 2012 to facilitate year-round scientific research activity by the Indian Antarctic programme.

Major programmes of the 41st expedition

• The 41st expedition has two major programmes.

• The first encompasses geological exploration of the Amery ice shelf at the Bharati station. This will help explore the link between India and Antarctica in the past.

• The second programme involves reconnaissance surveys and preparatory work for the drilling of 500 metres of ice core near Maitri. It will help improve the understanding of the Antarctic climate, westerly winds, sea-ice and greenhouse gases from a single climate archive for the last 10,000 years.

• The ice core drilling will be done in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey and the Norwegian Polar Institute.

In addition to accomplishing scientific programmes, it will replenish the annual supplies of food, fuel, provisions and spares for the operations and maintenance of life support systems at Maitri and Bharati.

• The 41st expedition is being led by Shailendra Saini, a scientist at the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (Voyage Leader), Huidrom Nageshwar Singh, a meteorologist at the India Meteorological Department (Leader, Maitri Station), and Anoop Kalayil Soman, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (Leader, Bharati Station).

• The crew is expected to return to Cape Town in South Africa in late March or early April of 2022, leaving a team of 48 members for over winter.

• It will also bring back the winter team of the preceding 40th expedition.

Some quick facts on Antarctica:

• Antarctica “the white continent” is the fifth largest continent in the world with its unique wildlife, extreme coldness, dryness, windiness and unexplored territories. 

• The word Antarctica is derived from the Greek word antarktike, which means “opposite to north” i.e. opposite to the Arctic.

• Antarctica is too cold for people to live there for a long time. Scientists take turns going there to study the ice. Tourists visit Antarctica in the summers. The oceans around Antarctica are home to many types of whales. Antarctica is also home to seals and penguins.

• It is a great scientific laboratory hence also called ‘continent for science’.

• The present Antarctic ice sheet accounts for 90 per cent of Earth’s total ice volume and 70 per cent of its fresh water. It houses enough water to raise global sea level by 200 feet if completely melted. 

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