I am one of the lucky persons
to visit the icy continent, Antarctica. So far only two thousand Indians might
have visited the continent, which approximately 0.0002% of the total population
of the country. Visiting Antarctica is a rare opportunity and experience. I am
thankful to the Director, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR),
Goa; Secretary, Department of Ocean Development (DOD), New Delhi and to the
Director, National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) for giving me this
opportunity.
The team comprised of 48 members which included our leader Dr. Arun
Hanchinal from Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Bombay, DOD observer Mr. Arun
Chaturvedi, two cooks, two doctors, 13 defense personals, scientists and other
logistic people. Out of 48, including me 25 are summer team members, who
returned back to India after 3 months and 23 are winter team members, who are
going to stay at Antarctica for 15 months.
The expedition formally launched on 2nd Jan. 2003 at NCAOR
with Dr. Zakharius, Vice Chancellor of Goa University, as the chief guest. Dr.
P.C. Pandey, Director, NCAOR briefed the importance of the expedition, a
national mission. At Goa we had rigorous fire fighting training, lectures on
dangers at Antarctica and safety measures.
After flying to Cape Town via Mumbai from Goa, we had enough time to see
the South African city before sailing to Antarctica. Our first visit was to Cape
Point (Cape of Good Hope). Historic light house here reminds us the courage and
adventure of ‘Diaz and Da Gama’, Europeans who came in search of new sea
route to India. Cape Town is a beautiful city with huge shopping complexes,
beaches and open theaters. Panoramic view of Table and Lion Head Mountains are
visible to a far distance.
The expedition ship ‘Magdalena Oldendorff’ berthed at ‘Table Bay
Harbor’ was ready to take us for bon voyage on 14th Jan. We had a
grand see off by Dr. Harsh K. Gupta, secretary, D.O.D, members of Indian high
commission and others at the harbor. It was a good experience to watch the small
tugboats pulling and pushing the heavy ship towards the sea. Our ship crossed
Robben Island where South African former president and other freedom fighters
were jailed for several years. Initially our voyage was filled with joy by
watching sea gulls flying around the ship and resting on water. The seal were in
plenty playing to themselves.
After crossing the 54°4’ latitude we started seeing the icebergs of
different shapes floating. By passing the sea of ‘pack ice’ on 22nd
Jan. we crossed the ‘Antarctic Circle’. That was a great celebration.
Captain of the ship threw a party thanking ‘Neptune’ (God of ocean) for his
cooperation to cross the Antarctic Circle. We are given certificate and memento on this occasion.
After 10 days of voyage by crossing several stages of ice, watching
several groups of Addle penguin and seal the ship stopped approximately 10 km
behind the shelf ice. From there we are supposed to fly in helicopter to our
research station ‘Maitri’ at Schirmacher Oasis, which was approximately 100
km. But the weather was bad for three days; cloudy, ‘white out’ did not
allow us to fly. We were spending time in ship with our routine activities. Few
groups of penguins visited our ship for inspection. Penguins are really funny
creatures, fearless and curious to know the new visitor in their territory. In
the middle of this we celebrated ‘republic day’ in ship by singing national
anthem and other patriotic songs.
On 27th Jan. we got clear sky and good weather. Using this
opportunity we were transferred to the Antarctica land. Soon we landed on the
Antarctica, touched and kissed the mighty earth, put the ‘thilak’ with the
soil. The occasion was holiest for us. Members of 21st winter team
came running towards us to welcome. They are happy to see human beings other
than themselves after a year. Evening we had grand welcome party.
We stayed in huts specially constructed for the stay of summer members.
The temperature was –1° C. Our hut was warmed with heater. While going out we
wore warm clothing and ‘dangri’ (overall), which was sufficient to withstand
the cold temperature. Initially for few days attending the nature was really a
tough job. Indigenous toilet modules are designed to burn the human waste
manually. Though hot water was available one did not dare to take bath for few
days. However, there were few members who took bath daily. The situation was
different in ‘Maitri’, where winter members of previous team stayed. Maitri
is constructed on a raised platform by wood and always warm inside by heaters.
Maitri is facilitated by cold storage for preserving the food materials,
hospital with emergency operation theater, kitchen, gymnasium, indoor games
(table tennis, chess, carom), prayer hall, Photostat, communication systems,
meteorology lab, book and audio video library. The communication system of our
research station is the best among other stations in Antarctica, which has
internet facility, high and very high frequency (HF/VHF) wireless sets,
satellite phone, fax etc. The All India Radio news ‘Samachar Sandhya’ and
news sent by friends by email was the only media to know the happenings at India
and world. We celebrated the win of Indian team against Pakistan during World
Cup cricket by shouting slogan, singing and dancing.
The summer team got totally 47 of stay on the Antarctic soil, out of
which 33 were working days and the remaining once are bad weather days. This was
one of the best summers with regard to maximum number of working days for Indian
expedition. Weather is always unpredictable in Antarctica and once it goes bad
it continues for minimum 5 days. Cloudy sky, high wind speed, snowfall and snow
blizzards are the faces of bad weather. It is risky to go out during these days.
Luckily there was no snow blizzard during our stay in Antarctica.
The summer team of scientists consisted of two biologists, five
geologists, four environmentalists, seven geophysists and five surveyors. All
the scientist got sufficient time and logistic support to complete their
proposed tasks.
As lichenologist my aim was to study lichen flora of the Schirmacher
Oasis and nearby areas. I could intensively survey the oasis and nearby nunataks
for lichens. Around 250 specimens were collected, processed and preserved for
further study. Around 50 species of lichens and many new species and new reports
are expected from the study. As lichens are good accumulator of gaseous
pollutants they are transplanted in generator hut complex to study the emission
and air pollution in the area. Few lichen rich sites were marked in the area for
the continuous monitoring of their growth rate and community changes. Soil
samples were collected to correlate the nutrients in soil and lichen diversity
of a locality.
The summer camp at Antarctica was closed on 13th March and
wintering members of 21st expedition are already moved to the ship.
We were supposed to move on 13th to the ship but suddenly weather
went bad, we were stuck up in the Maitri for another three days. Fourteen hours
snowfall was a wonderful seen one has to experience. Everybody went out of the
camp to enjoy the snowfall. On 16th we could move to the ship. We got
an opportunity to visit India’s first polar research station ‘Dakshina
Gangothri’ which is now 17 meter down the ice and abandoned. We entered into a
portion of the station by digging the way through ice. In the mean time the ship
had decanted the material on the shelf, which will be carried to the Maitri by
22nd expedition wintering convey team. Ship started sailing back on 17th
March. Temperature was very low and seawater started freezing. During the return
journey we could see the groups of whales moving. We reached Cape Town on 26th
March and from there to India (Mumbai/New Delhi) on 31st March.
In the nutshell visit to Antarctica is an exiting and unique experience.
It is a life time achievement for me.