India’s first South Pole expedition launched

New Delhi, Nov 2: In order to study about climatic changes in Antarctica, Union Science and Technology Minister, Prithviraj Chavan launched India's first expedition to the South Pole on Monday, Nov 1.

The team consists of 8 scientists, headed by Rasik Ravindra, director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, will first go to Maitri- India's second permanent research station in Antarctica, which was built before the first station Dakshin Gangotri was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990-91.

The team which will last for 40 days, will leave Maitri on Nov 8 and will be back in the middle of Dec.

"India is sending an expedition to the South Pole for the first time and the team of 8 scientists will bring samples that will give us information about climate change which have taken place in the last thousand years," said an official.

"They will study on snow chemistry, bed rock topography and ice structure and will collect meteorological parameter along the 2,000-km-long traverse," the official added.

Maitri is situated on the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis and the station has modern facilities to carry out research.

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