![]() ![]() ![]() These parameters from our measurements will help us improve climate models which help us accurately predict weather, monsoon timing in countries like India and extreme events such as cyclones and flash floods. As she moves along with this piece, propelled by the transpolar drift for one whole year, we will be able to measure critical parameters along the whole corridor, which covers a lot of area.īetween the beginning and end of our leg, we had drifted a meandering distance of 675 km, and close to 410 km straight line distance. Polarstern is anchored on to a sea ice piece. They don't fully capture long-term changes over large areas. ![]() VN: Although scientists conduct yearly field-based experiments in the Arctic for studying and answering unresolved questions about our planet, all these experiments are short termed. NI: Why are such scientific experiments needed to understand global climate? when sea ice starts forming and melting).įor MOSAiC, my research work focused on deploying radar sensors on ice, operating at multiple radar frequencies, to improve the accuracy of retrievals of above mentioned parameters, which will ultimately help the radar satellites to provide improved and accurate estimates. My expertise has always been in using satellite- and ground-based radar remote sensing data to improve the accuracy of critical snow and sea ice parameters such as snow depth sea ice thickness, freeze- and melt-onset (i.e. VN: I am a sea ice scientist, specialised in radar remote sensing. NI: What is the focus of your work? How are you going to take this forward? Scientists from 20 nations are participating on and off board Polarstern. The data collected from the MOSAiC expedition will cover all seasons (annually) and a large area (as the Polarstern moves with the sea ice).Īs many as 300 scientists will be on board Polarstern, rotated in 6 different legs. The previous Arctic expeditions focused on specific time periods for a few months. The focus is on Arctic as the epicenter of global warming and to gain fundamental insights key to better understand global climate change. VN: The primary goal of the MOSAiC expedition is to investigate the principal components of the Arctic climate system - the atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, ecology and biogeochemistry. NI: What is the main objective of the MOSAiC expedition and how is it different from the previous Arctic expeditions? At one point, I was even ready to stay back for the next leg, until May or June.īut then we were allowed to get back home to our families while following all protocols. With all countries closing their borders on us, we were worried about our safe return home. ![]() Our whole group was in isolation from the outside world for many months and we did not have a clue about the seriousness of this situation. VN: With the COVID-19 crisis, there was a lot of uncertainty about our returning home. NI: Was there any threat from the novel coronavirus that gripped the rest of the world? How did you handle that? I would say that such prolonged periods of darkness have their own beautiful flavour. Now after returning home, I miss the darkness. At one point, darkness becomes a way of life for me. Thereafter we experienced few days with nautical, astronomical and civil twilight. Towards the end of February 2020, sometimes the skies were clear and sometimes illuminated by the full moon with Venus in its precincts.įrom 3 December 2019 until the end of February 2020, we had close to 80 days of complete darkness. We did not want the ice to break up with two ships standing next to each other. When we reached Polarstern on 13 December 2019 on the Russian ice breaker Kapitan Dranitsyn, I was anxious. Working with small metallic nuts, bolts and screws under extreme cold required a lot of effort. We were in the middle of frozen ocean enveloped by complete darkness for 80 days, temperatures plummeting down to -55☌ with wind chill and sometimes stormy weather. Vishnu Nandan: I have undertaken more than 15 expeditions to the polar regions but this one had its own challenges. Nature India: You are finally back home after four months of being locked down in the Arctic darkness. ![]()
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