BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation Isro ), on Wednesday said it has joined the 36th scientific mission to Antarctica , organised by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).This year, four teams from ISRO—one team from Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad and one team each from the National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun and the Space Physics Laboratory(SPL), Thiruvananthapuram—are participating.“Climate change is the thrust area of the 36th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (36-ISEA). The main objective of this expedition is to install stakes on ice for Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) measurements around Bharati and Maitri to validate glacier surface velocity derived from satellite data to estimate thickness of snow over land and sea ice using Ground Penetrating Radars (GPR's) and also to verify conditions of snow over sea and land ice,” Isro said in a press release.Among other things the Isro teams will study of snow melt/freeze dynamics in Antarctica using space-based and ground-based observations. “Under ongoing project of NRSC, observations using snow fork were collected over six locations near Bharati station, Antarctica during November 2016 to January 2017. The observations included snow density, wetness and profile temperature in 26 pits dug on sheet ice,” Isro said.Measurements of Atmospheric Black Carbon (BC), greenhouse gases and solar radiation fluxes at Antarctica on a long-term basis is also part of the objective.