Himadri is India's first permanent Arctic research station located at

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, Norway. It is located at the International Arctic Research base,

Ny-Ålesund Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned ...

. It was inaugurated on the 1st of July, 2008 by the Minister of Earth Sciences. It was set up during India's second Arctic expedition in June 2008. It is located at a distance of from the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

Research Goals

Himadri's functions include long term monitoring of the fjord (Kongsfjorden) dynamics, and atmospheric research. The primary goals of India's research includes research on aerosol radiation, space weather, food-web dynamics, microbial communities, glaciers, sedimentology, and carbon recycling. The research base has devoted time for the research of governance and policy of the Arctic. India has prioritised research and study in the fields of genetics, glaciology, geology, pollution in the atmosphere, and space weather among other fields. In 2012–2013, a total of 25 scientists visited the base which was staffed for 185 days to carry out studies under 10 distinct projects.

Strategic Interests

The

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

estimates that 22% of the world's oil and natural gas could be located beneath the Arctic. India's

ONGC Videsh The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the ...

is reported to be interested in joint-venture with Russia for oil exploration and has reportedly requested

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...

for stake in a project. In addition, using Arctic sea lanes for shipping would reduce voyage times by 40% compared to Indian, Pacific or Atlantic Ocean routes. On 15 May 2013, India was made a permanent observer at the

Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle ...

. India is the 11th country after Britain, Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway to set up a permanent research station in Ny-Ålesund.

Description

The station was set up in a refurbished two floored building with four bedrooms. The building has an area of and has other facilities including a computer room, store room, drawing room and internet. It can host eight scientists at normal conditions. The crew of the station are given training in shooting with rifles to protect themselves from

polar bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species ...

New research in Arctic IndARC

Established in August 2014. Designed and developed by scientists from the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the observatory has been deployed in the Kongsfjorden fjord of the Arctic, roughly halfway between Norway and the North Pole is named

IndARC IndARC is India's first underwater moored observatory in the Arctic region. It was deployed in 2014 at Kongsfjorden fjord, Svalbard, Norway which is midway between Norway and North Pole. Its research goal is to study the Arctic climate and its inf ...

References

External links