Journey to the Wonderland of Antarctica

Debdip Chakraborty (Class of 1985)

In this talk, Debdip Chakraborty shared  his journey to Antarctica with the audience. Mr. Chakraborty has been serving the IMD for the last 28 years as a meteorologist. His areas of specialisation concern aviation, Doppler Weather Radars and Polar as well as tropical Cyclones. He shared with us fascinating insights as to how this expedition came to be realised and what were the incredible experiences and challenges that he underwent during this voyage of a lifetime. 

He shared with us the details of the voyage in terms of how his expedition started. He also shared some historical insights on Antarctica and went deep into the history of Antarctica explorations. He also shed light on the Antarctic treaty and the actual geographical conditions of this southernmost continent of the world. He talked about the issue Global warming and how it has affected Antarctica and shared an image of the ozone hole over Antarctica to point that out. He went on to talk about the flora and fauna of Antarctica and shared some fascinating pictures of life on the southernmost tip of our planet. 

He also explored the conservation efforts that are being undertaken to preserve this pristine ecosystem and focussed on the kind of new research that is being undertaken in this area. He also laid out the history of Indian expeditions to Antarctica and pointed out the incredible role that has been played by India over the years in this process. It was a fascinating session which mesmerised one and all given the originality of content and the once in a lifetime experience. The talk ended with a vote of thanks to the speaker for sharing this unique experience with the praktani.