New Delhi, Jan 4 (UNI) India will flag off 40th scientific expedition to Antarctica on Jan 5 from Goa which will mark the four decades of country’s scientific endeavour to the southern white continent, the officials in the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
This expedition journey will be flagged off from Goa on January 5 with 43 members onboard. The chartered ice-class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovnin will make this journey and will reach Antarctica in next 30 days. After leaving behind a team of 40 members, it would return to India in April 2021 along with the winter team of the preceding trip.
The scientific and logistic activities of this trip has been kept limited due to the existing challenges associated with COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is to support the ongoing scientific projects on climate change, geology, ocean observations, electric and magnetic flux measurements, environmental monitoring, resupplying of food, fuel, provisions and spare, and accomplishing the return of the winter crew.
India is committed to maintaining the continent of Antarctica free of COVID-19. The expedition will duly follow all protocols for the deployment of men and material as per Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP). Extra precautions of sanitizing the cargo, mandatory fourteen days of quarantine (pre-, and post-expedition) and RT-PCR testing before boarding the ice-class vessel is also being conducted.
The Indian Antarctic expeditions began in 1981. The first trip comprised of a team of 21 scientists and support staff led by famous scientist and marine biologist Dr SZ Qasim.
With the three permanent research base stations in Antarctica—named Dakshin Gangotri, Maitri and Bharati and as of now, India has two operational research stations in Antarctica named Maitri and Bharati. The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, manages the entire Indian Antarctic program.
The 39th Scientific Expedition was launched in November 2019 with 27 scientific projects, focusing on climate process and its linkages with climate change, crustal evolution, environmental processes and conservation, the ecosystem of terrestrial and near shore regions, observational research, and polar technology.
Two additional collaborative projects with the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research were also undertaken. After completing its mission mandate, it returned to India in May of 2020 after replenishing the annual supplies of food, fuel, provisions, snowmobiles, and spares for operations and maintenance of life support systems at Maitri and Bharati. It cruised a team of 48 members to Antarctica for winter operations.
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