Dakshin Gangotri Station

The following is an account of India’s history in Antarctica from the information I have gathered during my stay in Antarctica from various sources.

India launched its first Antarctic expedition in 1981. It was a summer expedition and was a brain child of Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister of our country. From then on, India has sent an expedition to Antarctica every year. The first wintering was in 1983 at the 1st Indian Antarctic station, Dakshin Gangotri, which is about 70km from Maitri.

The Indian expeditions were started with a scientific intent, unlike most other countries that have a claim over various regions of Antarctica. Since presence in Antarctica also has a strong political impact internationally, it is highly advantageous for India to have year round presence in Antarctica, especially with the continent suspected to have huge reserves of hydrocarbons. Mining is currently banned under the Antarctic treaty, but one never knows what’s going to happen in the future.

Unlike Maitri, Dakshin Gangotri was constructed on the ice shelf, 15km from the ocean. It was constructed on a raft foundation. It was much smaller than Maitri and 2 people had to share one room. Conditions were a lot tough then. Communication was limited to one liners exchanged from home about once or twice a month. There was no telephone connectivity. Now we are even about to get internet. Hence, wintering was a much more strenuous and commendable effort. The teams then had a huge contingent from the armed forces to look after the logistics. Since the station was on the ice shelf, there was no where to go for walks, no places around to explore. All around there was just an endless, featureless expanse of ice. Being closer to the sea, it experienced much more blizzards during the winters as well as summers. If Maitri experiences 20 blizzards a year, DG had 60. The minimum temperature experienced there was -55ºC. Hence, outdoor activities were limited to just a few hundred meters around the station. Many people did not venture out of the station during their entire stay.

Due to excessive snow deposition and also in large part due to repeated ice melting and refreezing in the summers, it slowly sank in the snow. During its final years, even the roof of the station was under the surface. The only access to the station was by a duct line passing through the snow. So it was like living in a virtual rat hole under the ground, with no doors or windows and a roof and walls of snow. This had an adverse psychological impact on many members. This was when the 2nd Indian Antarctic station was planned and Maitri was constructed in 1989. That was also the year of the last wintering at DG. It was the only year when there were 2 Indian wintering teams in Antarctica, one at Maitri and another at DG. The next year, DG sank deeper into the ice and had to be abandoned. A few porta cabins were, however, constructed there for the convoy team (the Indian shelf has since been shifted to the present location) as well as for scientific research during the summers. For the last 10 years, even those have been abandoned and DG now lies buried 60 meters under the snow, with no external sign of a station ever being there.

This is a problem with all Antarctic stations constructed on the ice shelf and various innovative techniques have been developed to handle the problem. The American south pole station, Amundsen- Scott, has been constructed about 7 times and the British station, Halley, on the Filchner ice shelf in the Weddel sea 5 times (these figures are approximate). The most popular innovation is to construct a station on stilts which can be jacked up every year to above the surface. This extends the life of a station by a few years, but ultimately the station does get buried under the ice and a new one has to be constructed. For this reason it is preferred to construct stations on exposed landmasses like Schirmacher oasis. However, exposed landmass constitutes only 2% of Antarcticas area. The rest is ice. So this is not always possible, more so for stations on the Antarctica plateau.

We have now come a long way since the days of DG. Facilities have improved markedly. Internet will reduce isolation to a great extent. India is also likely to launch a satellite in the near future that will also cater to our requirements in Antarctica. This will revolutionize telecommunication facilities. Flights have started operating to Dronning Maudland since 2002 during the summers. A few months back a test flight was successfully completed by the Americans during the polar night. This might open the doors for year round flights to Antarctica, at least to allow emergency evacuation on medical grounds. India now proposes to construct its 3rd Antarctic station at Larsemann Hills in the same longitude as India. It is likely to be completed by 2011. It will be an ultra modern facility, competing with the best in Antarctica. This year, India has also constructed its first year round station in the Arctic, named Himadri. We are truly progressing fast now.