VISHAKAPATNAM: Dr Manoj P Rayaroth, Assistant Professor at GITAM School of Science, during his month-long field programme at India’s Himadri Research Station in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, said Glacier melt in the Arctic can change noticeably within a week.
He collected fjord water and glacier meltwater samples as part of the project on how climate change affects pollutants in the Arctic environment.
Dr Rayaroth was part of Batch 4 of the Indian Arctic Expedition 2026-27. His approved project, titled “Impact of Climate Change on the Transformation of Emerging Contaminants and their Release from Arctic Ice to Marine Waters: Monitoring and Identification of Transformation Pathways”, focuses on the occurrence and transformation of organic pollutants and how they behave under Arctic conditions.
“Sometimes the water flow in the river as a part of glacier melt is more, and sometimes it is less. Within a week, we can see the difference,” he said. The project is aimed at monitoring pollutants in the Arctic environment and studying whether climate change is influencing their transformation and transport. Dr Rayaroth said pollutants resulting from human activities in other parts of the world can reach the Arctic through atmospheric transport and ocean currents.
He said ocean currents are an important pathway through which pollutants can move from one region to another. This is also connected to his wider research interest in marine pollution. He is working on a project funded by the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), Ministry of Education, on microplastics and other persistent organic pollutants in the marine environment, in collaboration with the University of Montreal in Canada.
The fieldwork also presented practical challenges. Dr Rayaroth said sampling could become difficult when the weather turned rough. If wind speeds went above about five metres per second, the boat could drift from one location to another, making it difficult to collect samples.
The samples collected during the field programme have not yet reached GITAM. They are being collected and sent together with samples from other batches and are expected to reach him in about one to two months. Detailed analysis of the pollutants will begin only after the samples arrive.
Dr Rayaroth said there was no preliminary data on the pollutants from the samples yet. Basic water-quality measurements, including salinity, conductivity and dissolved oxygen, could be taken at the site, but identifying the contaminants requires detailed analysis using mass spectrometry. The instrument can identify and quantify pollutants present at very low concentrations, including levels of nanograms per litre.
During the expedition, he experienced snowfall, rainfall, strong winds, cold, glaciers, sea ice, glacier-melt streams and icebergs. He also saw Arctic wildlife such as reindeer, Arctic foxes, seals and whales.
Dr Rayaroth said the Arctic is important for global climate and environmental research because changes in the region can have consequences for the global climate system and environmental processes beyond the polar region.
The Arctic environment was a major contrast to the populated areas from which the expedition members had travelled. At Ny-Ålesund, research stations of several countries operate at the international research station. India has its Himadri station there, while countries including Norway, China, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom also have research activities in the region.
Dr Rayaroth said the expedition was interdisciplinary, with scientists and researchers from different fields working alongside one another. Batch 4 included members from the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, National Institute of Oceanography, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology and Presidency University, West Bengal. The work covered areas including environmental science, chemistry, biology, oceanography, atmospheric science and glacier-related studies.
His project was approved by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences (Govt of India), Goa, with Professor NVS Venugopal of GITAM School of Science as Co-Principal Investigator. The detailed study will begin after the samples reach GITAM Deemed to be University, with the team examining the pollutants present and the changes they undergo in the Arctic environment.