From Kannur to Ny-Alesund, a researcher tracks pollutants into the Arctic

The polar regions may appear remote on a map, but their isolation makes them important sites for climate research, says Manoj Panayamthatta Rayaroth, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, GITAM School of Science.

“To study climate change, we need research in such isolated areas,” he says. What is released elsewhere may eventually reach the Arctic. “If you dump a chemical here, it can go all the way to the Arctic because all the oceans are connected,” he says.

Mr. Manoj recently completed a research assignment in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway, as part of the Indian Arctic Expedition 2026-27. He was represented from August 17 to September 14, outside the travel season.

His days in the Arctic were shaped by water and wind. He collected water from the fjord and water from melting glaciers from the ship, while rough weather often forced the team to suspend sampling. Temperatures were kept between 2°C and 4°C. Daylight shone continuously for most of his stay, and darkness appeared for about two hours only in the last few days.

Glacier-fed rivers were constantly changing. “The melt changes every day, and if you check every six hours, the weather changes,” he says.

He stayed at Himadri, an Indian research station established in 2008 that accommodates eight scientists. Meals were prepared in a common kitchen shared by researchers from several countries. During his stay, he met scientists who had been working in the region for 20 to 25 years.

It rained for two or three days during his stay. “They said it didn’t rain that much before,” he recalls.

His journey to the Arctic began years ago. As a B.Sc. student, was among 35 students admitted to the National Center for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) in Goa, where scientists who had returned from the Arctic spoke about their work. “The excitement was in our minds at the time,” he says.

In 2011, as a project fellow at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, he worked to remove endosulfan from environmental samples and visited the affected areas in Kasaragod near his native Kannur. “People are still fighting over endosulfan,” he says.

After completing the Ph.D. in 2017, he did postdoctoral research in South Korea, Germany, Poland, France, and the United States before joining GITAM in 2024.

His opportunity to join the Arctic expedition came through a call for research proposals on the NCPOR website. His proposal, with NVS Venugopal, Professor, GITAM School of Science, as co-principal investigator, was defended before a panel and subsequently accepted, with one berth allocated to the team.

The project seeks to study how organic pollutants are transformed in Arctic ice and meltwater and how they eventually reach the sea.

Manoj Panayamthatta Rayaroth, Assistant Professor, GITAM School of Science, launches a water sampler into a fjord near Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard, Norway, during the 2026-27 Indian Arctic Expedition. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The samples are expected to arrive in Visakhapatnam in a month or two and the research team has yet to come up with any findings. But Mr. Manoj says his next goal is to move from monitoring to mitigation.

“Anyone can monitor, but few can mitigate,” he says.

C. Kavitha, Principal, School of Science, GITAM, who joined in the interview, said that she hoped that students would get an opportunity to participate in such national research projects in future.

Published – 30 Sep 2026 06:30 IST