The Hindu : In Antarctica, another Indian research station

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 27, 2003

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In Antarctica, another Indian research station

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI NOV. 26. India is all set to establish another research station in Antarctica at a cost of Rs. 15 crores. This should give a fillip to experiments that are being conducted by Indian scientists in the icy continent for the past two decades.

The Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, Harsh K. Gupta, said that the additional station would aid in understanding better the movement of the geological plate beneath the Indian sub-continent.

The plate is estimated to be moving in a north-north-west direction at the rate of 4 to 5 cm a month. Scientists fear that it may create conditions for a major earthquake in the Himalayan region.

A wealth of data has been generated on the phenomenon with the help of Global Positioning System equipment located in `Maitri', India's station in Antarctica, and in six sites in different parts of the country. But they need to be corroborated and fine-tuned. The new station will help in doing this.

The new facility is expected also to help in forecasting the monsoon better. It will provide for a better understanding of the monsoon circulation over the Indian sub-continent.

As in the case of seismic studies, a large quantity of data has been collected from Maitri over the years on this also and the new facility will help in fine-tuning them. "Antarctica is a good base for conducting studies on monsoon as the atmospheric and other processes occurring there has an effect on the natural processes in and over Indian Ocean and these has a direct bearing on the Indian monsoon," Dr. Gupta said.

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