India plans research in Arctic

Panaji, May 25: Celebrating silver jubilee year of its successful expedition to Antarctica, India now plans to tread yet another icy continent, The Arctic on the North Pole, to explore its scientific treasure, during the 11th plan period.

At the same time, the scientists would also undertake exploration of the Southern Ocean that spans the Antarctica on the South Pole, even as they are poised to set up the third base research station away from the existing - Maitri in Antarctica.

On the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebrations at the National Centre for Antarctica and Ocean Research (NCAOR), that has been coordinating the successive expeditions to Antarctica, Union Ministry of Ocean Development Secretary Dr P Goel told UNI that the Centre was eliciting the opinions of the scientific community before framing the Ocean Science Policy for the 11th plan period, beginning next year.

''We are contemplating to include expedition to Arctic region, besides undertaking research of the Southern Ocean, even as the ongoing research on Antarctica would be strengthened further by acquiring our own ocean going ''ice-class vessel,'' instead of depending on a hired vessel,'' Dr Goel said.

The formulation of the policies for the 11th plan period is in the process and the experiences gained in the last 25 expeditions to Antarctica would be taken into consideration before embarking on new pastures that could further strenghen study of polar sciences, he said.

The current unipolar to bipolar research through multi-disciplinary projects is expected to help study global changes and their impact on the two icy continents through a ''holistic approach to the ocean-earth-interaction,'' he said.

UNI