The summer team of the XVIII expedition to Antarctica led by Mr. Ajay Dhar of IIG, Mumbai, which was flagged off from NCAOR on 14 December 1998 from Goa returned on 30th March 1999 leaving behind a wintering team of 26 personnel.

In addition to the ongoing programmes, several new experiments, were initiated during this expedition, which inter-alia include:

Bio-diversity of anaerobes
Eutrophication analysis of lakes
Ambient sea noise processes and its effects on Antarctic mammals Utilisation of fuel cells and wind energy as a source of clean energy
Utilisation of fuel cells and wind energy as a source of clean energy
Measurement of ozone and trace gas using Brewer Spectrophotometer as a part of the permanent meteorological Observatory
Establishment of stand-alone Automatic Weather system (AWS) observatories on ice shelf and polar ice caps.