Scientist says Indonesia needs to monitor Antarctic

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia must research more about changes in the Antarctic because they affect the archipelago's climate, a government scientist said yesterday.

Fadli Syamsudin, who explored the Antarctic in August and September, said Indonesia was a chief passage through which water from the Antarctic flowed to the Atlantic Ocean.

Any disruption in the water's circulation is bound to affect Indonesia's climate, Fadli told The Jakarta Post.

Fadli, an employee of the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, met around 300 senior high school students earlier yesterday to brief them on his expedition.

Muhammad Evri also attended the briefing. He was the only other Indonesian in the expedition which sailed the Aurora Australis research ship with about two dozen scientists from other countries.

Fadli (30) and Evri (29), both from the agency's Directorate of Natural Resources Inventory Technology, are the first Indonesians to set foot on the Antarctic. On Aug. 31, the two men planted the national red-and-white flag at the Dummont D'urville site. The temperature was minus 30 centigrade.

"The Antarctic holds 90 percent of the world's ice stock and 75 percent of its plain water stock," Evri told the enthusiastic young crowd.

"The Antarctic is 14 million square kilometers, twice the size of the Australian continent. In winter, it increases to 17 million square kilometers because of freezing ocean," Evri said.

Asked about the most memorable part of the expedition, he said it was the chance to meet and compare notes with scientists from other countries.

"Do you want to join an expedition some day?" Evri asked, followed by a long "yes" from the audience.

The expedition left Indonesia on Aug. 22 for Hobart, Tasmania. From there they sailed to the Antarctic. The scientists returned on Sept. 23.

The Indonesian scientists' goal was to study the characteristics of Antarctic water, and its influence on Indonesian and global climates.

Their findings will be presented at a national convention on maritime issues in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, next month.

The meeting with high school students yesterday was organized to encourage youths' interest in maritime issues.

Yusuf Djajadihardja, who headed the project, said that Indonesians were becoming less interested in maritime studies, an irony given the archipelagic nature of the country.

"It's very hard to recruit maritime researchers," Yusuf said.

President Soeharto has pronounced 1996 the year of maritime and aeronautical affairs. (05)