Polar Research Vehicle to be acquired for Research in Antartica, Artic and in Southern Ocean Region

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Earth Science
23-April, 2015 15:09 IST

A Polar Research Vehicle to be acquired at a cost of over 1050 Crore Rupees for Research in Antartica, Artic and in Southern Ocean Region

The Government had authorized the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa to acquire a Polar Research Vehicle (PRV). Giving this information in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today the Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S.Chowdary said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved acquisition of the Polar Research Vessel (PRV) in October last year at an estimated expenditure of over Rs. 1051crore.

He said the vessel is expected to contribute to India’s scientific expeditions and to sustain research at two Indian bases in Antarctica (Maitri and Bharti) and also dovetail research initiatives in the Southern Ocean domain in the proximal regions of the Antarctic continent. It could also widen the thrust on Arctic research disciplines, undertaken through Indian Station Himadri, in addition to providing a suitable research platform for other ocean research programmes.

Ever since the first Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica began way back in 1981, India has been managing the transportation of the expedition personnel and cargo to and back from Antarctica through chartered vessels. However, the very fact that these vessels were basically ice-class cargo vessels rendered them unsuitable for oceanographic research work. Taking into consideration (i) the growing need of the scientific community to initiate studies in the frontier realms of ocean sciences, (ii) the uncertainty in the charter-hire of polar vessels and the ever-escalating chartering costs, and (iii) the expansion of our scientific activities into the Arctic and Southern Ocean, it was decided to explore the feasibility of constructing and commissioning a polar research vessel which can cater to both the scientific and logistics aspects of the polar and Southern Ocean programmes. As the nodal agency responsible for the implementation of the country’s polar and Southern Ocean programmes, NCAOR was entrusted with the task of planning, co-ordinating and procuring the PRV.

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Earth Science
22-July, 2015 16:01 IST

Antarctica Expeditions

Indian Antarctic expedition commenced in 1981 that reached Antarctic on 08 January 1982. After operating from Ship and temporary shelters for two years, the first permanent research station “Dakshin Gangotri” was established in 1983 at 70.08˚S, 12.00˚ E over the Ice shelf in Central Dronning Maud Land region. The station was abandoned in 1990 as it got buried under snow.


Since 1988, research base Maitri (coordinates 70.77˚ S, 11.73˚ E) is operational in the central part of Schirmacher Oasis, in Central Dronning Maudland region of East Antarctica. The newly constructed Bharati station operational since March 2012, is located at 69.40˚S, 76.19˚E in Larsemann Hills, Antarctica.


India’s expedition is launched annually (once in a year) wherein about 100 to 120 members including Scientists, Engineers, Doctors and Tradesmen are sent in batches between November and January of the succeeding calendar year. So far there have been thirty five scientific expeditions including a parallel Weddle Sea Expedition in 1989 the year which had two expeditions. More than sixty institutes, R&D organizations, leading universities, survey organizations and IITs are taking part in the National endeavor and about 2500 scientists have carried out their scientific studies. A huge number of publications including international publications have been brought out by our scientists.


Currently 41 year-round permanent stations are operated by 30 nations.


The Maitri station is functional round the year. Currently, 24 personnel are deployed at the station. The Maitri Station occupies a strategic location in the Central Dronning Maud Land region of East Antarctica offering diverse opportunity of scientific research in disciplines such as Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology; Earth Sciences including Glaciology, Geomagnetism; Human Physiology and Medicine; Micro-biology; Environmental Sciences, etc.

The total amount of expenditure incurred both in establishing Maitri, Dakshin Gangotri and Bharati as well as sending periodic expeditions to Antarctica since its inception, i.e from 1981-82 to 2014-15 is Rs. 1473.39 crores.


Some of the significant contributions by Indian scientists to Antarctic research are:


(i) Measurements of atmospheric ozone concentrations made from the Indian Antarctic research station “Maitri” reveal that the recovery of ozone depletion does not take place as fast in Antarctica as in the Arctic.

(ii) India is among the first countries to take up magnetometer triangulation experiments in Antarctica to determine the presence and movement of small scale, auroral current systems.

(iii) Magnetic field has been reported to decrease rapidly during last century in and around Maitri. Continuous magnetic measurements at Maitri however, indicate that the rate of decline has reduced considerably during last few years.

(iv) India also tapped the opportunity of observing Shadow Bands during the unique total Solar Eclipse on 23rd November 2003 studied by Indian scientists from the icy continent. The observations have been analysed for the study of shadow bands and their relation with Total Solar Eclipse, Antarctic lower Atmosphere Boundary Layer, Solar Corona and the other features of solar activity during declining phase of the sunspot cycle.

(v) Biological Research by India in Antarctica has been focused primarily towards enumeration of the microbial biodiversity of Antarctica and also to understand the molecular basis of cold adaptation. Research on the molecular basis of cold adaptation demonstrates that cold loving bacteria adapt to low temperatures by their ability to modulate membrane fluidity by regulating the synthesis of fatty acids and carotenoids. The study of the biodiversity of cyanobacteria and algae in fresh water and terrestrial ecosystems and chemical environment of the Schirmacher Oasis has revealed that various ecosystems differ significantly.

(vi) 30 out of 240 new bacterial species discovered so far in Antarctica have been made by Indian scientists. Two genes namely t-RNA modification GTPase and aspratate aminotransferase have been identified as genes required for survival of bacteria at low temperature; a number of lipases and proteases active at low temperatures and useful for the biotechnology industry have also been identified.So far about 20,000 sq km area of the Wohlthat mountain ranges (which is in the backyard of Maitri) has been geologically mapped.

(vii) Geophysical studies have yielded gross features of the sub-glacial topography and thickness of the ice in the region south of the Schirmacher Oasis.

(viii) Maitri is one of the Global Positioning System (GPS) stations contributing to the International database.

(ix) Analysis of snow/ ice cores data has provided valuable information on the spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in the Centra Droning Maud land (CDML) region. Near the erstwhile Indian Research Station ‘Dakshin Gangotri’, a net accumulation of 62.7cm was recorded during 1999-2001. Moving south towards the continental ice sheet, an average accumulation of 10cm/yr has been computed for the last 500 years from the ice core studies (core IND22/B4). Accumulation rates recently deduced from an ice core recovered from a continental ice sheet near the Humboldt Mountains indicate an average rate of ~70cm/yr for the past two decades.

(x) An ice core of 101.4 m ice core from the CDML was recovered during the summer of 2014- the longest by Indian scientists.

(xi) The major ion analysis of an ice core provides excellent marker horizons of many volcanic eruption events such as Krakatao (1883), Tambora (1815) and Huaynaputina (1600). Studies have also revealed that the tephra accreted during the Agung (1963) and Krakatao (1883) eruptions harboured microbial cells, suggesting that volcanic ash particles could provide a significant micro-niche for microbes and nanobes in the accreted ice.

(xii) A high-resolution ice core record from coastal Antarctica reveals a doubling of dust and trace element fluxes over East Antarctica since 1980s, coinciding with the enhanced intensity of southern westerlies and polar easterlies.

(xiii) Molecular-level characterization of dissolved organic matter in Antarctic snow shows that many of the identified supraglacial organic matter formulae are consistent with material from microbial sources, and terrestrial inputs of vascular plant-derived materials are likely more important sources of organic carbon to Antarctica than previously thought.

(xiv) A 54.5 MHz Moveable Atmospheric Radar (MARA) was installed at Maitri during the summer of 2014 as a collaborative venture between ESSO -NCAOR and Swedish Institute of Space Physics to study (a) the vertical transport and mixing processes in the polar troposphere and lower stratosphere under different meteorological conditions, and (b) ice-cloud layers in the polar summer mesosphere to improve understanding of middle atmosphere dynamics and composition.

(xv) The palaeoclimatic data so far generated from Zub & Long lakes in Antarctica going back to 8,000 years before present indicate alternating arid - warm and humid climatic conditions. Studies of the samples collected from marginal Antarctic lakes in the Vestfold Hills show the presence of types of foraminifera, reflective of marine influence in the past.

(xvi) Environmental magnetism studies carried out from one of the lakes of Schirmacher Oasis indicate that the glacial periods were characterized by high magnetic mineral concentrations. The Holocene period is characterized by alternating phase of relatively warm and cold events. This study also gives evidence of Schirmacher Oasis escaping full glaciations during the past 40,000 years.


These details were given by Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Y.S.Chowdary in Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a question.



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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Science & Technology
28-September, 2015 09:23 IST
The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences

Dr. Harsh Vardhan says Procurement of all the required equipment for Research at Antarctica will be expedited The Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has conveyed good wishes of Shri Narendra Modi government to all the scientists at the Bharati research station at Antarctica from the National Center for Antarctica and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in Goa. He was speaking in a tele-conference with them from NCAOR last evening. The minister earlier visited all the labs and facilities at the institute. Various scientists thereat have briefed him of the research findings. The issue of increasing level of carbon dioxide in atmosphere and its impact on climate change over the years also came up for discussion. The minister said that processes for procurement of all the required equipment for research at Antarctica will be expedited so that effective research is undertaken there.

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[Hindustani78]

The 35th Indian Scientific expedition to Antarctica was executed with a total of 124 expedition members representing 29 different organizations with 34 projects covering upper atmosphere, astrophysics, geophysics, meteorology, glaciology, geology, biology, environmental sciences, human physiology and medicine. Yoga was introduced as part of a scientific programme.The 36th expedition members were sent in different batches, commencing November 2016. Total 31 sub-projects/studies would cover (i) Atmospheric Science & Meteorology, (ii) Biology & Environmental Sciences (iii) Earth Science & Glaciology with the overall theme being the “Climate Change”.

National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences established a high altitude research station in Himalaya called HIMANSH (literally meaning, a slice of ice), situated above 13,500 ft (> 4000 m) at a remote region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. This station is equipped with instruments such as Automatic Weather Station, Water Level Recorder, Steam Drill, Snow/Ice Corer, Ground Penetrating Radar, Differential Global positioning System, Snow Fork, Flow Tracker, Thermister string, Radiometer etc. Water Level Recorders were installed at five locations along with a stretch of 130 km of Chandra River in Western Himalaya for hydrological balance/modeling. Glaciers were monitored for mass balance, dynamics, energy balance and hydrology.

Under the Arctic observations program, the Indian Arctic mooring (IndARC-II) was retrieved on 26th July 2016, following which IndARC III was re-deployed successfully on 27th July 2016. The Ambient Noise Measurement System with a single hydrophone and a data acquisition system was deployed on IndARC-II. The IndARC-II collected more than 116 parameters and worked continuously for 373 days in the Arctic waters. During the year, 17 projects covering different aspects oceanography, atmospheric sciences, geology and glaciology were implemented at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway.

IndARC-II in the Arctic

IXth Southern Ocean Expedition was launched on-board Oceanographic Research Vessel MV Agulhas [South African vessel] from Port Louis, Mauritius during December, 2016. The observations will be made upto Prydz Bay, the coastal waters of India's third station in Antarctica "Bharati'.

Ministry of Earth Sciences signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), for exploration of Poly-Metallic Sulphides (PMS) in Indian Ocean. The contract was signed by Dr. M Rajeevan, Secretary, MoES and Mr. Nii Allotey Odunton, Secretary General, ISA. The ISA is an institution set up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a Party.

Ministry of Earth Sciences submitted an application to International Seabed Authority for extension of contract for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules (PMN) for a further period of 5 years (2017-22). The contract signed with International Seabed of Authority for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules on 25th March 2002 is expiring on 24th March 2017. The PMN programme is oriented towards exploration and development of technologies for eventual extraction of nodules lying on the seabed at 4000 to 6000 m water depth from the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) allocated to India by UN. India is presently having an area of 75,000 square km, located about 2000 km away from her southern tip.

Indigenously developed 500 m depth rated shallow water/polar remotely operated vehicle (PROVe) was successfully deployed, in the Andaman coral Islands and the vehicle was successfully maneuvered in the undulating reef terrain to record high quality underwater visuals of coral reef biodiversity with spectral irradiance.

 

[Hindustani78]

29.10.2014


Acquisition of a Polar Research Vessel

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the acquisition of Polar Research Vessel (Ice-breaker, Research cum Supply Vessel) by the Ministry of Earth Sciences at a total cost of Rs. 1051.13 crore within a period of 34 months.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/indias-polar-ship-still-a-long-way-off/article18701108.ece
NEW DELHI, June 01, 2017 22:31 IST
Updated: June 01, 2017 22:31 IST

‘Indigenous firms don’t have expertise’
India’s plans to acquire a ₹ 1,000-crore polar research vehicle (PRV) — a ship that can cut through ice sheets and glaciers — may see fresh delays. Though a Spanish ship-building company was roped in, in early 2015, the contract fell through, primarily due to escalated costs. The new ‘Make in India’ policy gives Indian companies an edge in baggingthese contracts, which are open to international and local bidders.

This concession allows an Indian company, which may have lost out to a foreign company in the final bidding stage on price, to match the latter’s lower, winning bid and bag the contract.

Multiple sources, privy to the PRV procurement process, told The Hindu that Indian ship companies are not experienced in building PRVs. “There are very few companies in the world with such expertise. Insisting on Indian companies for the sake of it may mean longer delays,” said a person familiar with the process.

New tender soon

A fresh, global tender incorporating these changes will likely be floated later this year. The government had authorised the Goa-based National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), a facility that comes under the Earth Sciences Ministry, to acquire a Polar Research Vehicle (PRV) in 2014. According to a March 2015 press statement by the Cabinet approving ₹ 1,050 crore for the purpose, a PRV was necessary to meet “…the growing need of the scientific community to initiate studies in ocean sciences, (ii) the uncertainty in the charter-hire of polar vessels and the ever-escalating chartering costs, and (iii) the expansion of scientific activities into the Arctic and Southern Ocean (the seas surrounding Antarctica).”

“An Indian company can also partner with a foreign company for the bidding… once awarded, we expect the ship to be ready within three years,” said Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Crucial to nation’s goals

The ‘ice-breaker,’ as these ships are colloquially called, can cut through a 1.5-metre thick wall of ice. With a lifespan of 30 years, the ship is expected to be central to India’s ambitions in the Arctic and Antarctica in coming years. India has announced plans to rebuild Maitri, its research station in Antarctica, and make it impervious to its harsh environment for at least 25 years.

Though the plans to procure a ship were laid out in 2011, there have since been design changes and disagreements with the Spain-based company, which had won the tender on the final costs. “These led to the delay at that time,” said Shailesh Nayak, former MoES Secretary.

 

[Fabricio Tavares]

I believe Indian antarctic expeditions rely a lot on russian logistics nowadays, just like many other countries do. What about the ORV Sagar Nidhi? What is her role on India's presence in Antarctica?

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Earth Science
31-July, 2017 17:10 IST
Ocean Observation Systems

The Ministry of Earth Sciences has been implementing a major program on Ocean Observations System since 1996. The ocean observation system has been designed to acquire real-time, time series data on surface meteorological and upper oceanographic parameters from the seas around India including from the Indian Ocean Region. A wide range of ocean observation systems are deployed in different parts of the Indian Ocean for acquisition of specific ocean parameters on different spatial and temporal scales. These include moored buoys, drifters, current meters, wave rider buoys, Cargo floats, tide gauges, coastal radars and acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCP), which are broadly classified into two categories viz., drifters and moored. The primary purpose of acquiring a suite of accurate measurements of ocean parameters is to cater research and a wide range of operational services including issue of issue of early warning to tsunami and storm surges. Besides, the information from the seas around India is extremely useful of ocean-atmospheric modelling purposes and validation of satellite data. One of the major observing systems is moored buoy network, equipped with deployment and maintenance of a set of buoys at fixed locations in the Exclusive Economic Zone of India (EEZ) for obtaining long term data. These buoys are capable of collecting data upto 76 parameters and transmitting the information in real time through satellites. Currently, the moored buoys network has been augmented to 19 buoy network, deployed in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The ocean observing systems are primarily deployed, operated and maintained by four organizations viz., National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai; National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa; Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad and Survey of India, Dehradun. All the systems except Tide gauges and coastal Radar are deployed in the EEZ of India, outside jurisdiction of coastal states/UT of India. Details of observations systems deployed, operated, maintained and supported by India and their current status are as under:-



Type of Platform
Target
Commissioned till June, 2017

Argo Floats
200
291

Drifters*
150
103

Moored Buoys
16
19

Tide Gauges
36
34

Coastal Radars
10
10

Current Meter Array
10
11

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
20
21

Tsunami Buoys
7
9

Wave Rider Buoy
16
16



The details of fund allocated for 12th Plan period (2012-17) (Rs. In crores) are as follows:



No.
Type of Observing System/institute

2012 –13
2013-14
2014 –15
2015-16
2016 -17

Total

1
Argo profiling floats (INCOIS)
6.00
6.00
6.00
6.00
6.00
30.00

2
Drifters (INCOIS)
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.00
10.00

3
XBT/XCTD (INCOIS)
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.50
2.50
12.50

4
Equatorial and coastal current meter array (INCOIS)
4.10
5.60
4.10
2.60
2.60
19.00

5
Coastal ADCP moorings (INCOIS)
3.00
4.50
4.50
3.50
3.00
18.50

6
Marine met. Ocean parameters onboard Ships/Rigs (AWS & wave) (INCOIS)
2.10
2.10
2.10
0.60
0.60
7.50

7
Wave rider buoys along the coast of India (INCOIS)
1.60
2.10
2.10
0.60
0.60
7.00

8
Bay of Bengal Observatory (INCOIS)
1.45
2.45
1.70
0.70
0.70
7.00

9
Other Observation network (Underway CTD & water quality, Turbulence, coastal CTD moorings, RAMA mooring etc) (INCOIS)

2.84
4.64
5.54
2.84
1.09
16.95

10
Calibration and Validation site (NIOT)
1.18
1.42
4.30
1.33
1.50
9.73

11
Coastal Radar (NIOT)
2.40
2.40
2.90
2.90
3.40
14.00

12
Moored Data Buoys (Met-Ocean and Tsunami) and Gliders (NIOT)
6.00
29.75
30.75
43.00
37.00
146.50


Grand Total

35.17
65.46
68.49
68.57
60.99
298.68



This information was given by Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Y.S.Chowdary in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today

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[Hindustani78]

Ministry of Earth Science
21-August, 2017 18:28 IST
India’s Exclusive Rights to Explore Polymetallic Nodules from Central Indian Ocean Seabed Basin Extended by Five Years

India’s exclusive rights to explore polymetallic nodules from seabed in Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) have been extended by five years. These rights are over 75000 sq. km of area in international waters allocated by International Seabed Authority for developmental activities for polymetallic nodules. The estimated polymetallic nodule resource potential is 380 million tonnes, containing 4.7 million tonnes of nickel, 4.29 million tonnes of copper and 0.55 million tonnes of cobalt and 92.59 million tonnes of manganese. This has been approved unanimously in the 23rd session of International Seabed Authority (ISA) concluded on August 18, 2017 at Kingston, Jamaica.

India is the first country to have received the status of a pioneer investor in 1987 and was allocated an exclusive area in Central Indian Ocean Basin by United Nations (UN) for exploration and utilization of nodules. India is one among the top 8-countries/ contractors and is implementing a long–term programme on exploration and utilization of Polymetallic Nodules through Ministry of Earth Sciences. This includes survey and exploration, environmental studies, technology development in mining and extractive metallurgy, in which significant contributions have been made.

While, the extraction of metals from the polymetallic nodules lying at the deep ocean floor is not yet found to be economically viable at this stage, an area of about 7860 square km has been identified in the CIOB for the First Generation Mine Site on the basis of detailed surveys and analysis. Environmental studies for mining of deep-sea polymetallic nodules were also carried out to evaluate the possible impacts of mining on deep-sea environment.

A Remotely Operable Submersible (ROSUB 6000), capable of operating at 6000 m water depth was also developed and tested successfully at a depth of 5289 m. A remotely operable in-situ soil testing equipment was also developed for obtaining detailed geotechnical properties of the mining area at CIOB and tested successfully at 5462 m water depth.

A mining system is under development which has been tested for 500m water depth. Metallurgical process routes for extracting copper, nickel and cobalt from polymetallic nodules have been developed and tested in a demonstration pilot plant set up on semi-continuous basis at Hindustan Zinc Limited, Udaipur with a capacity to process 500 kg nodules per day.

International Seabed Authority (ISA) is a UN body set up to regulate the exploration and exploitation of marine non-living resources of oceans in international waters. India actively contributes to the work of International Seabed Authority. Last year, India was re-elected as a member of Council of ISA. India’s nominees on Legal and Technical Commission and Finance Committee of the ISA were also elected last year.

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[Fabricio Tavares]

Oceanic mineration is a really important issue these days.