Antarctica: India’s Journey to the Frozen Continent

Antarctica, a land of mystery and wonders, is the Earth’s last great wilderness. Fifty million years back, it had evergreen forests with many types of animals and plants. Today, the continent is a white desert and known to be the coldest, driest, stormiest, windiest and the most inaccessible place in the world. A continent of extremes with nearly six months of continuous day and about six months of continuous night, the lowest temperature of -89.6°C and wind speeds up to 190 km per hour during blizzards make this continent a unique place on Earth. This no-man’s continent has nearly 90% of the world’s freshwater deposit in the form of ice. If the ice is allowed to melt, the earth’s sea level will rise by several meters thus submerging a major part of the earth under water. India’s journey to this remote, isolated and extreme continent began in search of knowledge and for unravelling its mystery, Antarctica: India’s Journey to the Frozen Continent is about a journey, a mission, an initiative, a challenge, an adventure, a dream and finally establishing the scientific capability of India in the world. This book not only describes the beauty of this enigmatic continent and origin of India’s Antarctic venture but also gives a first-hand experience of two different persons: One, a leader and the founder of India’s Antarctic program and the other, a research scholar who undertook his maiden journey to this continent.