India plans to undertake 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.

The two-day brain-storming session among top scientists of the Departments of Science and Technology and the Ocean Development in New Delhi from June two would chalk out strategies and policies for the coming five year plan in Ocean Sciences. All the ocean sciences programmes have been undertaken in isolation. ''But, now the need has arose, when we have to integrate these programmes in a holistic view to study man-ocean-climate interaction and inter-dependence mechanisms,'' Dr Goel said.

He further favoured involvement of private institutions in polar research in the coming years, in the light of the successful study of bio-diversity in the Antarctica with large scale applications in development of drugs for diseases like cancer and diabetes.

The samples collected from Antarctica recently included algae and some microbes that could survive without presence of atmosphereic oxygen defying conventional science.

Converting this knowledge into application takes more time. It requires at least 10 years and USD one billion to develop a new molecule and the process of analysing the samples of the microbes of the Antarctica is on in this direction, he said.

To a poser, he did not rule out the possibility of collaborative research on polar sciences with other countries for synergic benefits.

The Antarctica Treaty, however, prohibits use of the icy continent for any military applications or commercial exploitation of the area, at least till 2050.

The immediate challenge is to become first ranking scientists in the world in polar sciences now that they have successfully maintained their presence in Antarctica for the last 25 years, by surmounting all hurdles under sub-zero temperatures that made logistics more difficult, he said.

Efforts are also underway to develop a two-way satellite connectivity for the polar scientists for real-time highspeed data transfer and inter-connectivity for television facility at the Maitri research base station, to encourage more scientists' participation, apart from including post-graduate students in the expeditions.

The authorities are also contemplating to augment research laboratories at the NCAOR headquarters at Vasco-da-Gama in South Goa, besides improving coordination and cooperation with other agencies engaged in polar sciences research, he added.

UNI