the goan I network
PANAJI
India’s efforts in studying changes, some alarming, in the icy Antarctica polar region are well-known, especially here in Goa where the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) is headquartered.
But now, its scientists could soon set foot on yet uncharted territory for similar work -- the tougher Arctic Ocean. Canada has been wooing India to come on board its ‘Canadian High Arctic Research Station’ and collaborate in exploring the northern pole.
On Tuesday, Dr David Scott met with top scientists and officials of the Sada, Mormugao-based NCPOR and made a strong case for a collaboration. “I think it will be immensely beneficial that an Indian team of scientists comes on board our research station to explore the Arctic while we do the same at the Indian station in the Antarctica polar region,” Dr Scott said in a brief telephonic interview after finishing his engagements at the Sada office of NCPOR on Tuesday evening.
Dr Scott is the President and CEO of Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) since 2015. The agency has grown under his leadership with strides in changing how polar research is conducted, documented and shared.
On Tuesday while at Sada, Mormugao, he refrained from confirming whether any concrete deal of cooperation has been reached between the two sides but left for Delhi where a Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC) is expected to be inked on Wednesday by the two countries drawing the broad contours for collaboration to conduct research in both the polar regions using mutual resources. Dr Scott also said study and research on glaciers in the Himalayan region and the rapid changes happening there is also of “great interest” to Canada. Fieldwork and research findings over decades have aided the global environmentalists and scientific community to better understand the alarming symptoms of ‘Climate Change’ and the rapidity of depletion of the Ozone layer.
Dozens of countries have set up permanent research missions and India has been at the forefront of work in the Antarctica region. Goa also has its share of credit in India’s Antarctica mission and every expedition to the southern pole has been flagged off from its shores, with several Goan scientists drawn from the NIO at Dona Paula part of each of them.
Engineers and technical hands adept at sailing and ship maintenance work drawn from MPT have also joined these past expeditions. Should the MoC with Canada fructify on Wednesday in Delhi as Dr Scott believes it will, the journey from the Southernmost tip of the earth to its northernmost, holds unlimited promise for the Indian scientists and experts involved in polar research.
