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India's polar ambitions are growing
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - India's polar ambitions have received a boost with its plan to set up a new research station in Antarctica receiving approval at the just-concluded Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in New Delhi.
The site for the proposed station is an unnamed promontory between Stornes and Broknes peninsulas in the Larsemann Hills area in eastern Antarctica. This is a rare stretch of ice-free land on the continent.
Antarctica belongs to no country. Seven countries - Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom, Chile, France, Norway and New Zealand - have formal claims on the continent. These claims are frozen under the Antarctic Treaty. Mining is banned in Antarctica until 2048.
The Antarctic environment is a huge attraction for research scientists and tourists. While its harsh yet achingly beautiful wilderness draws in the tourists, its environment provides scientists with unique views of the workings of the Earth.
And then there is the attraction of its resources. Antarctica is rich in minerals such as coal and natural resources including fisheries. It contains 30% of the world's fresh water. Most important, it holds oil. Estimates vary as to the abundance of oil in Antarctica, but the Weddell and Ross sea areas alone are said to possess 50 billion barrels of oil, according to the US Department of Energy.
It is feared that while some of the research activity in Antarctica is aimed at understanding wildlife and weather patterns, countries are setting up research stations there also to study what energy resources and mineral riches it contains. Countries want a toehold in Antarctica to ensure that they will have a voice if and when the continent's resources are opened for exploitation. Research activity is seen as providing that toehold.
Some 30 countries maintain research stations in Antarctica.
The research station that India will set up soon is its third in Antarctica. India is a signatory to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty since 1983 and a member of the Scientific Community on Antarctic Research since 1984.
India's Antarctic program began with an expedition to the icy continent in 1981. Two years later, it set up its first research station, Dakshin Gangotri. When Dakshin Gangotri was submerged in polar ice, India set up its second research station, Maitri, in 1988-89 in the Schirmacher Hill area. Over the years, India's research in Antarctica has taken significant strides, and it is now keen to set up another station in the Larsemann Hills area.
This area is a favorable site for a research station as it offers an ice-free, flat terrain for construction of the station and easy access from the sea. Three other countries - Russia, China and Australia - already have bases there.
India has said it has research interests that are specific to this part of Antarctica.
"This is an interesting region for us [India] because it was connected to the Mahanadi region in eastern India before the continents separated," said Sharadindu Mukerji, director of the Antarctic division of the Geological Survey of India. "Geological features of the Mahanadi area and the Lambert glacier in eastern Antarctica make a perfect fit."
Scientists believe that most of the landmasses in the Southern Hemisphere and India were once part of a massive super-continent they call Gondwana.
According to the report that India submitted to the Committee for Environmental Protection for consideration at the Delhi meet, the area where India would like to set up its new station "offers an excellent scope for extensive studies on geological structures and tectonics with special reference to [Gondwana], paleo-climatology, solid-earth geophysics, space weather and meteorology, oceanography, marine biology, microbiology, environmental science etc".
The setting up of more research stations has raised environmental concerns, as human activity is inflicting damage on Antarctica's ecology and pristine environment. Scientists insist that their numbers and their impact on the Antarctic environment are marginal compared with those of tourists flocking to this continent. Indeed, while the scientists in Antarctica number only a few thousand, annual tourist arrivals have grown from 5,000 in 1990 to about 37,000 this year.
But research activity - the relatively small numbers of scientists and support staff notwithstanding - has contributed to messing up Antarctica too. The United States' McMurdo Station alone, which has a summertime population of 2,000, generates more than a tonne of garbage per person every year, and discharges 250,000 liters of raw sewage into the Ross Sea every day.
The United States' construction of a 1,600-kilometer-long "ice highway" from its station to the South Pole has damaged the Antarctic wilderness, as have the helicopters and planes of countries flying supplies to support their scientists.
Concerns were raised by several countries regarding India's new base at Larsemann Hills. Yves Frenot, first vice chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection, said: "The proposed Indian station has several pristine lakes with marine animals and algae around it." There is concern that the Indians will source their drinking water from these, contaminating them in the process. "India has made assurances that it will use water from streams which are going out of the lake. It will not undertake direct activity in the water of the lakes," Frenot said.
India has also promised to adopt quarantine measures and proper cleaning of material and equipment to minimize risk of introducing new plant/insect species.
Having addressed environmental concerns and with the green light from the Antarctic committee, India will now move quickly to set up its new research station. It will have a life span of 25 years and accommodate 25 people during the summer and 15 during the winter.
The vote of confidence is a boost to India's research interests in Antarctica, say scientists at the Goa-based National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research, the nodal agency for India's Antarctic activities. The Indian government is expected to provide more financial and other support to back the Antarctic research.
According to Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, within the next five years India will have its own first ice-class oceanographic research-cum-logistic vessel. India's Antarctic expeditions have hitherto been conducted on hired vessels. The new vessel will facilitate Indian scientists carrying out full-fledged research expeditions to polar regions and in the waters off Antarctica.
Research at the Maitri station too is set to expand. India will set up a satellite earth station here. "The station will provide better communication and data-transfer facilities between the Antarctic and mainland India," a senior official of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has said. Once operational, it is expected to enhance India's capability in polar orbiting satellites as well.
India has its eyes set on the Arctic as well. To complement its research work in the Antarctic, it will head to the Arctic in a few months, as part of a collaborative project with the Norwegians. Clearly, India's polar ambitions are growing.
Such ambitions are viewed with unease by countries with territorial claims in Antarctica. To them, research stations are Trojan horses that could weaken their claims to the icy continent.
The contest over Antarctica is heating up.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore.
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - India's polar ambitions have received a boost with its plan to set up a new research station in Antarctica receiving approval at the just-concluded Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in New Delhi.
The site for the proposed station is an unnamed promontory between Stornes and Broknes peninsulas in the Larsemann Hills area in eastern Antarctica. This is a rare stretch of ice-free land on the continent.
Antarctica belongs to no country. Seven countries - Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom, Chile, France, Norway and New Zealand - have formal claims on the continent. These claims are frozen under the Antarctic Treaty. Mining is banned in Antarctica until 2048.
The Antarctic environment is a huge attraction for research scientists and tourists. While its harsh yet achingly beautiful wilderness draws in the tourists, its environment provides scientists with unique views of the workings of the Earth.
And then there is the attraction of its resources. Antarctica is rich in minerals such as coal and natural resources including fisheries. It contains 30% of the world's fresh water. Most important, it holds oil. Estimates vary as to the abundance of oil in Antarctica, but the Weddell and Ross sea areas alone are said to possess 50 billion barrels of oil, according to the US Department of Energy.
It is feared that while some of the research activity in Antarctica is aimed at understanding wildlife and weather patterns, countries are setting up research stations there also to study what energy resources and mineral riches it contains. Countries want a toehold in Antarctica to ensure that they will have a voice if and when the continent's resources are opened for exploitation. Research activity is seen as providing that toehold.
Some 30 countries maintain research stations in Antarctica.
The research station that India will set up soon is its third in Antarctica. India is a signatory to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty since 1983 and a member of the Scientific Community on Antarctic Research since 1984.
India's Antarctic program began with an expedition to the icy continent in 1981. Two years later, it set up its first research station, Dakshin Gangotri. When Dakshin Gangotri was submerged in polar ice, India set up its second research station, Maitri, in 1988-89 in the Schirmacher Hill area. Over the years, India's research in Antarctica has taken significant strides, and it is now keen to set up another station in the Larsemann Hills area.
This area is a favorable site for a research station as it offers an ice-free, flat terrain for construction of the station and easy access from the sea. Three other countries - Russia, China and Australia - already have bases there.
India has said it has research interests that are specific to this part of Antarctica.
"This is an interesting region for us [India] because it was connected to the Mahanadi region in eastern India before the continents separated," said Sharadindu Mukerji, director of the Antarctic division of the Geological Survey of India. "Geological features of the Mahanadi area and the Lambert glacier in eastern Antarctica make a perfect fit."
Scientists believe that most of the landmasses in the Southern Hemisphere and India were once part of a massive super-continent they call Gondwana.
According to the report that India submitted to the Committee for Environmental Protection for consideration at the Delhi meet, the area where India would like to set up its new station "offers an excellent scope for extensive studies on geological structures and tectonics with special reference to [Gondwana], paleo-climatology, solid-earth geophysics, space weather and meteorology, oceanography, marine biology, microbiology, environmental science etc".
The setting up of more research stations has raised environmental concerns, as human activity is inflicting damage on Antarctica's ecology and pristine environment. Scientists insist that their numbers and their impact on the Antarctic environment are marginal compared with those of tourists flocking to this continent. Indeed, while the scientists in Antarctica number only a few thousand, annual tourist arrivals have grown from 5,000 in 1990 to about 37,000 this year.
But research activity - the relatively small numbers of scientists and support staff notwithstanding - has contributed to messing up Antarctica too. The United States' McMurdo Station alone, which has a summertime population of 2,000, generates more than a tonne of garbage per person every year, and discharges 250,000 liters of raw sewage into the Ross Sea every day.
The United States' construction of a 1,600-kilometer-long "ice highway" from its station to the South Pole has damaged the Antarctic wilderness, as have the helicopters and planes of countries flying supplies to support their scientists.
Concerns were raised by several countries regarding India's new base at Larsemann Hills. Yves Frenot, first vice chairman of the Committee for Environmental Protection, said: "The proposed Indian station has several pristine lakes with marine animals and algae around it." There is concern that the Indians will source their drinking water from these, contaminating them in the process. "India has made assurances that it will use water from streams which are going out of the lake. It will not undertake direct activity in the water of the lakes," Frenot said.
India has also promised to adopt quarantine measures and proper cleaning of material and equipment to minimize risk of introducing new plant/insect species.
Having addressed environmental concerns and with the green light from the Antarctic committee, India will now move quickly to set up its new research station. It will have a life span of 25 years and accommodate 25 people during the summer and 15 during the winter.
The vote of confidence is a boost to India's research interests in Antarctica, say scientists at the Goa-based National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research, the nodal agency for India's Antarctic activities. The Indian government is expected to provide more financial and other support to back the Antarctic research.
According to Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal, within the next five years India will have its own first ice-class oceanographic research-cum-logistic vessel. India's Antarctic expeditions have hitherto been conducted on hired vessels. The new vessel will facilitate Indian scientists carrying out full-fledged research expeditions to polar regions and in the waters off Antarctica.
Research at the Maitri station too is set to expand. India will set up a satellite earth station here. "The station will provide better communication and data-transfer facilities between the Antarctic and mainland India," a senior official of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has said. Once operational, it is expected to enhance India's capability in polar orbiting satellites as well.
India has its eyes set on the Arctic as well. To complement its research work in the Antarctic, it will head to the Arctic in a few months, as part of a collaborative project with the Norwegians. Clearly, India's polar ambitions are growing.
Such ambitions are viewed with unease by countries with territorial claims in Antarctica. To them, research stations are Trojan horses that could weaken their claims to the icy continent.
The contest over Antarctica is heating up.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore.
