Five-day 12th Antarctic Earth Sciences global symposium begins in Goa

The five-day 12th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences has begun here today, a day after Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Science Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurated it.

The themes likely to be taken up at the symposium include Antarctica and Supercontinent Evolution, Antarctic Surface Processes, Landscapes, and Links with Cryosphere and Climate, Antarctic Solid Earth Structure and Interactions with the Cryosphere: Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, and Evolution of Climate and the Global Cryosphere, amongst others.

The symposium is a SCAR-initiative aimed at showcasing Antarctic geoscience research, taking stock of the accomplishments of the International fraternity and providing guidance for future studies.

The first ISAES was organised way back in 1963 at Cape Town, and the last one (11th) at Edinburgh, with the Symposium traversing through Oslo, Madison, Adelaide, Cambridge, Tokyo, Siena, Wellington, Potsdam and Santa Barbara.

In its 50-year history, Japan has been the only Asian country to hold it with India being bestowed the honor to host the 12th such International symposium now.

Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, will be presenting India's perspective on geosciences research at the symposium.

The research and development arm of the ministry, National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa are hosting the symposium.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan had on Sunday said that Indian scientific expeditions to the continent hosting the southern-most frozen continent began nearly 35 years ago considering the fact that nature does not recognize political boundaries. Global influences on climate today have further proven this point.

Prof. Jeronimo Lopez-Martinez, President, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), was the guest of honour on the occasion.

The two-way interaction between the global and Indian polar scientific community is expected to lead to reinvigoration of Indian Antarctic programs.