New Delhi: India will send an expedition to the South Pole to study changes in climate patterns that have taken place in Antarctica in the last thousands of years, an official said here on Friday.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan will flag off the expedition Nov 1, which would start the international celebration of the centenary of man's reaching South Pole in 1911.
The team will leave for Maitri, India's second permanent research station in Antarctica, Nov 1 and will be back mid-December.
Rasik Ravindra, 62, director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, will lead the team of eight scientists on the 40-day expedition.
"This is for the first time that India is sending an expedition to the South Pole. The scientists will bring samples which will give us information about climate change which has taken place in the last thousand years," said the official.
The team comprises scientists who have experience of wintering over in Antarctica and knowhow of snow vehicles.
The team will conduct various scientific experiments on its way to South Pole.
"They will study variability of snow chemistry, particulate matter, bedrock topography and ice structure. They will collect meteorological parameter along the 2000-km long traverse," the official added.
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