The Hindu Business Line : Extending the frontiers of ocean research

The chapter on Indian Antarctic research actually began way back in December 1981 when the first Indian expedition to the icy continent was flagged off from Goa. Subsequently, 26 annual Antarctic expeditions have been launched by the country. Situated in a picturesque setting at Vasco-da-Gama, Goa’s port town in south Goa, the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) is the nodal organisation for coordinating and implementing the Indian Antarctic Prog ramme since its inception in May 1998. It is an autonomous research and development institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

At NCAOR, the scientific mandate is multidisciplinary research in those areas of polar science not being undertaken by any other institution in India. That includes research in the Arctic region, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean – the ocean surrounding Antarctica.

The Universities of Goa and Mangalore have recognised NCAOR as a research centre for the pursuit of higher studies. Led by Director Rasik Ravindra, NCAOR recently crossed yet another milestone as it entered an arena of joint research with the oil giant like ONGC.

NCAOR is involved in the upkeep and building of Antarctic research stations. Maitri – the second permanent Antarctic Research Station (first one being Dakshin Gangotri, operational from 1983-1989, now buried under ice) - established in 1989, allows Indian scientists to conduct critical studies across all areas of polar research.

To provide further impetus to polar research, NCAOR is building a third permanent station at Larsemann Hills – an environmentally critical and pristine area, 2,000 km from Maitri in east Antarctica.

To complement the research at Antarctic and give it a bipolar perspective, NCAOR launched an expedition to the Arctic in August 2007. Markers have been put at Arctic glaciers to monitor the effect of global warming and studies are being planned to study ice and sediment from this region to gauge the effect of past climate changes.

This study is likely to bring out the changes in global climate pattern as the Arctic is one of the fastest warming regions and the effects of global warming are visible in the form of glacier retreat and melting sea ice.

Another important responsibility handled by NCAOR is the management of Oceanic Research Vessel (ORV) Sagar Kanya – a multidisciplinary oceanographic research vessel dedicated to the survey and exploration of high seas.

The jewel in NCAOR’s crown is its ice-core laboratory – the only one in the country that is capable of storing, handling and analysing ice cores from Antarctica. Ice cores are long cylinders of ancient ice that are obtained by drilling deep into the thick ice sheets of Antarctica and in glaciers elsewhere. Ice gets accumulated layer by layer over a period and preserves the history of atmospheric temperature and records of atmospheric gases, wind-blown dust, ash, and even radioactivity. More importantly, these records allow researchers to predict the impact of significant events – from volcanic eruptions to global warming which could strike us today.

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