a) Objectives

1. To study the fundamental processes involved in the biogeochemical cycling (measurements of processes and factors influencing the same) within the snow packs as well as during the subsequent transformation to firn and ice in the polar and other region and elsewhere.
2. To study the biotic components in the cryosphere responsible for meditating the exchange processes.
3. To study the glaciological processes, accumulation patterns and snow layering characteristics for understanding the fundamental processes influencing the temporal records of ice.
4. To reconstruct the environment variables like temperature, precipitation, aerosols, and sea ice conditions during the past 200-2000 years with annual to sub-annual resolution to better understand the recent climate change in polar/tropical region and their global teleconnections.
5. To decipher the role of various internal and external forcing mechanisms on polar and global climate on a decadal centennial and millennial time scales.

b) Justification for the proposal:

The global warming and the associated loss of global ice cover are leading to large environmental changes. However, our knowledge of the functioning of the cryosphere within the global climate system and its spatial and temporal complexity is relatively less known. To identify the role and response of cryospher system in global climate change, it is vital to carry out long-term climate data. Such studies are best conducted using proxy records obtained from ice sheets. In fact, ice core studies have become a keystone of research into climate and biogeochemistry during the last several hundreds to thousands of years. In order to obtain more accurate and better climate information from proxy based studies, it is essential to have a sufficiently detailed and fundamental understanding on the biogeochemical processes involved in the air to snow transfers. Additionally geophysical and glaciological studies would help in understanding the quantitative interpretation (inversion) of ice core records.

Ice core records are best known for the unprecedented information they have provided of climate and climate forcing on long timescales-millennial and longer. However, one of the major requirements climate change research is the production of high resolution (at least annual) data of sufficient quality to be used in quantitative studies of climate variability and in determination of changes in climate forcing. Some of the most valuable ice core records are obtained from Antarctica. In order to obtain more comprehensive understanding of climate change, it is also required to have climate records from Arctic region and Himalayas in addition to the Antarctica.

c) Budget : 23 crores

(Rs. In crores)