NCAOR is primarily an R&D organization with the following aims and
objectives:
 Undertake, aid, promote, guide and coordinate scientific research in
the fields of polar science (Antarctic & Arctic) and Southern Ocean
oceanography.
Establish and maintain research base in Antarctica and provide all
operational and logistic support.
Devise, formulate and initiate programmes of strategic polar science,
which will create a knowledge base or future commercial and thematic
interests of India in Antarctic, Arctic and southern oceans.
Extend a singular research laboratory set up with such facilities, which
are of specialized nature or are otherwise not easily accessible. Some
of these are: deep drilling technology; low temperature ultra clean
labs for the preservation and analysis of ice cores; instrument
facilities like MS and ICP-MS for isotopic and trace metal analyses;
microcosm laboratory for biological investigations; remote sensing
tools and techniques for application of advanced satellite technology
for studies of the polar regions.
Develop predictive models for dynamic processes controlled and
driven by Antarctica and the surrounding oceans.
Develop a complete database inventory and repository for Antarctic
and Arctic science and logistics including a polar museum and a
library.
Take up scientific and technological projects of the Department of
Ocean Development as and when entrusted.
To cater to its mandate as well as to ensure the efficient functioning
of the Centre, the institutional framework of NCAOR has been organized into
different scientific, technical and management divisions/sections, as follows:
Management services, comprising the Administrative, Establishment,
Finance and Purchase and Stores Sections.
National Antarctic Programme comprising the divisions of Antarctic
Science programme and expedition logistics.
Scientific wing comprising the research and development group and
the legal continental shelf programme.
Ocean surveys and services group.
Programme planning and evaluation division.
National Antarctic Data Centre and Information Services.
NCAOR has identified the thrust areas of research in polar sciences,
during the remaining part of the current plan period. Several new
experiments have been conducted in the XVIII & XIX IAE. The setting up of
an environment laboratory at Maitri by National Environmental Engineering
Research Institute, Nagpur and the Palynostratigraphic study of lake
sediments by Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobatany, Lucknow, are giving
new insights about the environmental conditions in and around "Maitri" and
also about the past environment of Antarctica.
NCAOR has also recently taken up a major project of the Department
of Ocean Development (DOD) of delineating the outer limits of the Indian
Continental Shelf under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This will provide sovereign rights over an
additional area beyond the EEZ of 200 nautical miles. Many other national
institutions are involved in this project, which is being co-coordinated by
NCAOR.
In the field of international cooperation, NCAOR is in the process of
initiating cooperative research programmes with France, Germany, South
Africa and Russia in various disciplines of Polar sciences, with the
involvement of various institutions in the country. A Peruvian geologist
participated in XIX IAE and was working with scientists of the Geological
Survey of India.
Under A collaborative project between Space Application Centre,
Ahmedabad & NCAOR, Goa, and Polar Remote Sensing, Multi Scanning
Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) data acquired over the Antarctica ahows
several important features related to both the land & the sea. This study
suggests the capability of MSMR in capturing the Geomorphological land-ice
& sea ice features, matching with some known features in Antarctica, thus
giving confidence in using MSMR data for quantitative studies of earth's
cryosphere.
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