Chapter 2 - India’s scientific endeavors in the Arctic with special reference to climate change: the past decade and future perspectives

Abstract

The Arctic region is known as one of the fastest-warming regions of the world, and current predictions indicate that the ongoing environmental changes are greater than any other part of the Earth. The Arctic sea ice is shrinking at the rate of approximately 8%–10% per decade since the late 1990s. Climate models project that the Arctic Ocean may experience ice-free summers in the next 100 years. Recent observations suggest increasing temperatures of the Atlantic water inflow in the Arctic shelf-waters. Similarly, Arctic terrestrial ecosystems are also undergoing rapid changes (e.g., thawing of permafrost and melting of glaciers). These unprecedented changes have already proven to have a profound impact on the ocean biogeochemical process, food web structure, biodiversity changes, and associated human livelihood. Monitoring and documenting these changes in the Arctic marine and terrestrial environments are critical to forecast and respond to changes. Over the last 10 years, researchers worldwide have developed model systems that can help in real-time observation and prediction of climate change impacts. This has facilitated substantial progress in the understanding of Arctic ecosystems. India has a key interest in the Arctic climatic research, due to the critical connection between the Arctic ice melt and the Indian Monsoons. However, the exact effect remains yet to be understood entirely. It is observed that rapid melting of Arctic ice and the consequent increase of freshwater in the region prevents heat from escaping to the atmosphere thereby providing warmer waters to the Indian Ocean, which alters Indian monsoons. Given its significance and after decades of experience in Antarctic research, Indian scientific endeavors in the Arctic realm commenced from 2007. Ministry of Earth Sciences launched a national level Indian Arctic program and all the expedition-related activities are spearheaded by National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), formerly known as National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research. Here in this review, we briefly summarize the contribution of Indian research activities in the Arctic realm.