Dakshin Gangotri Station: Pride of India [Antarctica] [suggested weekend reading]

India, in 1983, marked its permanent presence on the snow-covered continent  of Antarctica with its first Research station - Dakshin Gangotri [meaning Southern Gangotri (source of the river Ganga)].

The team that made up the first set of residents of Dakshin Gangotri was lead by Major General [retd] Satya Swaroop Sharma, former director of India's Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment [SASE].

I recently received this nicely written, informative white paper that he had authored, in which he gives a very nice, sufficiently detailed account of the work & effort that went into setting up Dakshin Gangotri for catering to needs of Indian Scientists & Researchers, who have been year-round visitors to Antarctica since then, as part of Indian Antarctic Programme.

Click on the thumbnails to view a larger-sized image

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Since then India has setup up one more permanent Research base there - Maitri, with another research station, Bharati, being in the process of being set up, targeted for completion in 2012.

He has, in fact, also authored a full book sharing his experiences in Antarctica - Breaking the ice in Antarctica: The first Indian wintering in Antarctica. It is also available for reading on Google Books, as a partial preview - currently reading it - amazing stories, engaging narration.

Speaking of Google Books, started using GoogReader to them. Displays them in an easy to read book-like layout, making reading very convenient [HT Lifehacker]. I would however have liked them include a feature that remembered the last book read and also the last page read before closing the application. Probably available in the paid version, not sure - check it out, but a very nifty application even as a free app.

National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research (NCAOR)

Godspeed

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