On December 18, 2023, Minister for Earth Sciences Shri Kiren Rijiju flagged off India’s first winter Arctic scientific expedition to Himadri– India’s Arctic Research Station.
Key points
- The mission comprising four scientists from four different institutions.
- Himadri is located at Ny-Ålesund in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. It will now remain operational throughout the year.
- At least 10 countries have set up permanent facilities at the International Arctic Research base in Ny-Ålesund.
- The Svalbard group of islands is the closest human habitation to the North Pole.
- Indian scientific expeditions to the Arctic during the winter (November to March) will allow researchers to conduct unique scientific observations during polar nights, where there is no sunlight for nearly 24 hours and sub-zero temperatures (as low as -15 degrees Celsius).
- This will aid in expanding understanding of the Arctic, especially climate change, space weather, sea-ice and ocean circulation dynamics, ecosystem adaptations, etc., which affect weather and climate in the tropics, including monsoons.
- Since 2008, India operates a research base in the Arctic named Himadri, which has been mostly hosting scientists during the summer (April to October).
- Indian scientific expeditions to the Earth’s poles (the Arctic and the Antarctic) are facilitated under the PACER (Polar and Cryosphere) scheme of the MoES, solely through the aegis of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, an autonomous institution of the MoES.
