At was around 3 pm on August 8. Icebreaker vessel 50 Let Pobedy reached 89.6616 degree North latitude in the Arctic Ocean. We got down from the vessel and ploughed our way through the snow to the point where the navigation equipment read 90 degree North,” Dr S Bijoy Nandan recollects. That’s the exact moment he reached the northernmost point on Earth.
Lucky Rawat, a 15-year-old student from Chakrata in Uttarakhand, also accompanied him as India’s sole student representative.
“It was an incredible moment. We were standing on the frozen ocean, which was 4,000 m deep. There was a blizzard, with wind speeds crossing 10 m per second, and my face froze the moment I removed my mask to click a picture,” he recalls.
Bijoy Nandan, dean and scientist emeritus at the Department of Marine Sciences of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), is the first Malayali to step on the North Pole. He was part of the ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’, an international educational and scientific expedition to the North Pole organised by Rosatom, the Russian atomic energy corporation.
The expedition was a global mentoring programme in which 66 highly talented students from across the world participated alongside international experts to reach the North Pole. There were experts from diverse fields such as marine science, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, radiology and biotechnology. Among them was Sergei Lukyanenko, one of Russia’s most popular contemporary science fiction and fantasy authors. Others included Jairo Bastos, a Brazilian researcher-engineer, and Noel Rajabu Mabele, a Tanzanian medical doctor.
Students in the age group of 14-16 were selected through a five-level talent hunt. Globally, 5,000 students applied for the programme, of whom 22 were selected. Russia selected 44 students from 73,000 applications. Lucky Rawat, a Class X student from Uttarakhand, was the student representative from India. The team reached Murmansk, the largest city north of the Arctic Circle in northwestern Russia, on August 3. Murmansk is also a prime destination for viewing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), which is visible between September and April.
From Murmansk, the expedition team boarded 50 Let Pobedy (meaning “50 Years of Victory”), a massive Arktika-class nuclear-powered icebreaker operated by Rosatom. The vessel, built in 2007, is one of the world’s largest and most powerful ships and is capable of breaking through ice up to 3 m thick. It is 159.6 m long and 30 m wide. A floating giant, the vessel has restaurants, a play area, lecture halls, a gymnasium, swimming pools and large rooms.
“The 2,500-km voyage through the Arctic Ocean was an amazing experience. We could spot the depleting ice sheets, broken icebergs and barren hills. According to Russian scientists, the depletion of snow cover has been evident over the past two decades. There were only pancake ice formations in place of thick ice sheets. On the third day, we spotted a polar bear, which is also under threat due to the changing environment,” he says. The team reached 89.6616 degree North at around 3 pm, disembarked from the ship and walked around 250 m through snowdrifts to reach the northernmost point on Earth.
“We were standing on a frozen ocean that was 4,000 m deep. There was a blizzard, but we were excited. The students started celebrating and we conducted a flag march to mark the moment. The ship’s captain, Ruslan Sasov, also joined the celebration. In the polar region, it is six months of day and six months of night. The transition to the polar night begins around September, when the Northern Lights will become visible,” says the marine scientist. The return journey started late at night, and the team reached Franz Josef Land, a high-latitude Russian Arctic archipelago comprising 192 ice-covered islands. It is located about 900 km from the North Pole and is a natural reserve for polar bears and seabirds.
The expedition provided insights into the impacts of global warming on the Arctic. The Arctic Ocean plays a significant role in the global climate system and in the Global Conveyor Belt, a massive, continuous system of deep and surface ocean currents driven by differences in water temperature and salinity. This circulation moves heat, nutrients and carbon around the Earth in a slow cycle that takes about 1,000 years to complete.
“Evidence of Arctic amplification and its impact on global ocean changes is mounting. For example, the presence of aerosols is increasing in the Arctic region. Mercury has also been detected in organisms in Svalbard. The impact of Arctic amplification on climate change will be reflected in coastal zones across the world, including India,” the eminent oceanographer said. The marine scientist recorded the impact of global warming on the Arctic marine ecosystem and how the Arctic Ocean has changed over the decades. “I collected water samples for research purposes. Reaching the North Pole was a gratifying experience and gave me an opportunity to learn about the impact of global warming on the region. The team also launched a balloon equipped with sensors to study changes in the stratosphere,” he said.