Ministry of Earth Sciences (India) award for an independent research project, as a student researcher to travel to Antarctica on the 33rd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (5 months)

Ministry of Earth Sciences (India) award for an independent research project, as a student researcher on the 33rd Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (5 months; Dec 2013 - April 2014)

The project was titled ‘Biogeochemical studies of blue ice in coastal East Antarctica’. During the five-month expedition, I collected blue ice and cryoconite hole (microbial habitats) samples from 4 different areas in Antarctica: the Amery Ice Shelf (the largest Blue-Ice-Area in Antarctica), Dronning Maud Land, Larsemann Hills, Ingrid Christensen Coast and the Vestfold Hills.

Along with my independent project, I collected one-metre length snow cores at every 10 km interval from the coast to inland (up to 200km) on the Amery Ice Shelf for glaciochemical studies.