Four RI researchers to join Antarctic team
Four RI researchers to join Antarctic team
JAKARTA (JP): The Agency for Technology Application and
Assessment (BPPT) is planning to send four of its researchers on
the South-Arctic Expedition next month.
Two of the four Indonesian candidates are Muhammad Evri, and
Fadli Syamsuddin. They will be leaving for Australia on Aug. 17
to join other researchers from Australia, New Zealand and the
United States on board the Aurora Australis expedition boat.
The two other researchers, Bugi Wiku Wicaksono and Muhammad
Ilyas, will be posted to a station in Hobart on Tasmania to stand
in for Muhammad and Fadli in case of emergencies.
The candidates have yet to undergo health tests to determine
whether they are suitable for the expedition.
Indrojono Soesilo, head of the agency's natural resources
technological inventory, said that the researchers' participation
is in conjunction with the celebration of Aerospace and Maritime
Year.
"This is the first time that Indonesian researchers have taken
part in an international scientific expedition to the South
pole," Indrojono said.
He stressed, however, the difference between this expedition
and "adventurous" expeditions conducted by other groups in the
country.
At a press conference yesterday, the researchers said they
would focus their study on the role of the southern oceans' tidal
waves circulation on climactic changes. Previous studies had been
conducted on Indonesian waters by the state-owned Baruna Jaya
research boat.
Muhammad Evri pointed out that it is important for Indonesia
to join such expeditions, given its geographical position which
makes it greatly influenced by global climactic changes.
The expedition is being conducted jointly by the Department of
the Environment, Sport and Territories of the Australian
Antarctic Division, and BPPT.
The expedition is a part of the World Ocean Circulation
Experiment program.
The Indonesian researchers, aged 26 to 30, will start the
expedition from Hobart on Aug. 22. The expedition is scheduled to
end on Sep. 24.
The Aurora Australis ship is specially designed for arctic
expeditions. It is capable of breaking ice up to 1.2 meters thick
at a speed of 2.5 knots or approximately five kilometers an hour.
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