An Indian researcher is studying how organic pollutants travel to and transform in the Arctic as part of the Indian Arctic Expedition 2026-27.
Manoj Panayamthatta Rayaroth, Assistant Professor at GITAM School of Science, recently completed a research assignment at Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard, Norway. During his stay from August 17 to September 14 he collected fjord water and glacier meltwater to study how pollutants transform in Arctic ice and meltwater before eventually reaching the sea.
Rayaroth stayed at Himadri, India’s research station in the Arctic, and carried out sampling despite changing weather conditions. Temperatures during the expedition remained around 2°C to 4°C, while glacier fed rivers and meltwater conditions changed rapidly.
The research builds on his earlier work on environmental pollutants. In 2011, he worked on the removal of endosulfan from environmental samples and visited areas affected by the pesticide in Kasaragod, Kerala.
The Arctic project was selected through a research proposal call by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR). The study aims to understand how pollutants released far from the Arctic can travel through interconnected oceans and undergo changes in polar environments.
The collected samples are expected to reach Visakhapatnam within the next one or two months for detailed analysis. The researchers have not yet reached any findings.
Rayaroth said his future focus would be on moving beyond monitoring pollutants towards mitigation and developing measures to reduce their environmental impact.