National Geoscience Award to Dr. Thamban Meloth

Dr. Thamban Meloth, Scientist – E, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa, has been awarded with the prestigious National Geoscience Award for 2011 by the Ministry of Mines in recognition of the significant contributions in the field of glaciology and Antarctic research. The award will be presented at a ceremony on 19 March 2013 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The illustrious National Geoscience Award (formerly known as National Mineral Award) was instituted in the year 1966 by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India.  The objective of the scheme is to honour scientists or teams for their outstanding contributions in the field of fundamental and applied geosciences to provide incentive for striving toward excellence.

Dr. Thamban obtained masters degree in Marine Geology from the Cochin University of Science and Technology, and completed his PhD at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. He was instrumental in establishing India’s first Ice Core Laboratory with world class facilities for snow and ice studies at Goa. Presently he is leading a research team in the field of snow and ice studies with a focus on climate change. Thamban has been part various and national expeditions to Antarctica, Arctic, as Himalayas, including the first Indian scientific expedition to South Pole in 2010. Thamban has published 43 research publications in leading international and national peer-reviewed journals. He is also part of various international and national research programmes and scientific bodies.