Science and Technological Issues
Indian Scientists Traverse Shortest Path To South Pole
Answer:
- Braving temperatures as low as minus 54 degrees Celsius and navigating
jagged sharp ice hills, India’s first scientific expedition team to the
South Pole took a different but short route to reach the earth’s
southernmost point — in just eight days. - The path has never been tried before by any other country, the
scientists said. - The team led by Rasik Ravindra, director of the National Centre for
Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), had left Maitri, India’s second
permanent research station on the Antarctica, on Nov 13, 2010 and planted
the Indian flag at South Pole on Nov 22. - The eight-member team travelled 2,350 km distance (one side) between
Maitri, and South Pole in arctic trucks braving the difficult weather
conditions and traversing the tough terrain with snow-capped sharp
razor-edged hills of 1-2 metre height. - According to Ravindra, they were asked by the Norwegian and US
scientists to take a usually travelled curved route but the team decided to
rather take a straight and short route to reach the southernmost tip. - The team, consisting of a geologist, glaciologist, geophysicist and a
meteorologist as well as vehicle engineers, collected valuable data to study
the impact of global warming on Antarctica. - The expedition travelled on four specialised arctic truck vehicles,
which did face some problems due to the intense cold.
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