Back from Arctic winter voyage, scientists ‘happy to see Sun’ again

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

Girish was part of the four-member scientific team that became the first set of researchers from India to spend a winter carrying out scientific studies in the world’s northernmost habitation.

More on news:

India is only the fourth country in the world, after Germany, Italy and Norway, to have a year-round scientific presence in the Arctic region.
India has had a permanent research station called Himadri, in Ny-Ålesund in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic region since 2008.
Scientists have proposed to conduct the characterisation of the radio frequency environment in the Arctic, the first attempt ever from this region.
The experiments required the Indian researchers to drive an electric car to the Grave Badet laboratory which is located around 1.25 km from Himadri.
India shares this lab with Italy and Japan.
A Maxwell Antenna and an Electric Field Mill has been deployed at the Arctic to detect the atmospheric electric current and field respectively
This will help scientists in gathering information about the Global Atmospheric Electrical Circuit and better understand lightning.

The Himadri station and India’s facilities in the Arctic:

It is situated in the Ny-Alesund region of Svalbard, Norway.
It is India’s first permanent Arctic research station.
It is located at a distance of 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) from the North Pole.
India has an atmospheric science facility called Gruve Badet Observatory that houses various atmospheric observation networks.
The country has initiated new scientific projects in the Canadian High Arctic (Nunavut region) and plans to initiate studies in Greenland soon.

National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR):

The NCPOR, formerly known as the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) is an Indian research and development institution, situated in Vasco da Gama, Goa.
It is the nodal agency for India’s polar expeditions.
It is an autonomous institution of the Department of Ocean Development (DOD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India which is responsible for administering the Indian Antarctic Programme and maintains the Indian government’s Antarctic research stations, Bharati and Maitri.