Editing Indian Antarctic Programme (section)

==Research==
[[File:krilldistribution.jpg|thumb|[[Krill]] distribution on a [[NASA]] [[SeaWIFS]] image – the main concentrations are in the [[Scotia Sea]] at the [[Antarctic Peninsula]]. India carries out krill exploration in the [[Southern Ocean]] region of the Antarctic.<ref name=Gad08/><ref name=IAS_book_352>Pursuit and Promotion of Science – The Indian Experience (2001), 352</ref>]]

Antarctica holds scientific interest for global research projects due to a number of reasons: 'Origin of continents, climate change, meteorology and pollution' are among the reasons cited by S.D. Gad (2008).<ref name=Gad08/> Mrinalini G. Walawalkar (2005) holds that: 'ice–ocean interaction and the global processes; paleoenvironment and paleoclimatic studies; geological evolution of earth and [[Gondwanaland]] reconstruction; Antarctic ecosystems, biodiversity and environment physiology; solar terrestrial processes and their coupling; medical physiology, adaptation techniques and human psychology; environment impact assessment and monitoring; enabling low temperature technology development; and studies on earthquakes' are among the areas of study under the Indian Antarctic Programme.<ref name=Walawalkar05/>

Close to 1,300 Indians had been to the continent as of 2001 as a part of the country's Antarctic Programme.<ref name=IAS_book_352/> Indian expeditions to the Antarctic also study the fauna and the molecular biodiversity of the region.<ref name=IAS_book_173>Pursuit and Promotion of Science – The Indian Experience (2001), 173</ref><ref name=IAS_book_213>Pursuit and Promotion of Science – The Indian Experience (2001), 213</ref> A total of 120 new microbes had been discovered as a result of international scientific effort in the Antarctic by 2005.<ref name=Walawalkar05/> 30 of these microbes had been discovered by Indian scientists.<ref name=Walawalkar05/> India has also published over 300 research publications based on Antarctic studies as of 2007.<ref name="Anas 07" />

The 'ice cores' retrieved by drilling holes in Antarctic's vast ice-sheets yield information 'on the [[palaeoclimate]] and eco-history of the earth as records of wind-blown dust, [[volcanic ash]] or [[radioactivity]] are preserved in the ice as it gets accumulated over time'.<ref name=Gad08/> The NCAOR developed a polar research & development laboratory with a 'low-temperature laboratory complex at −20&nbsp;°C for preservation and analysis of ice core and snow samples' according to S.D. Gad (2008).<ref name=Gad08/> The 'ice core' samples are held, processed, and analysed in containment units designed by such technology.<ref name=Gad08/> Storage cases made of poly propylene also ensure that the samples do not alter characteristics and are preserved for analysis in the form that they were recovered.<ref name=Gad08/>