India’s first Arctic research base

New Delhi, July 1: A heritage building that was once a school for the children of coal miners in the town of Ny-Alesund, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, has turned into India’s first Arctic research base.

Science and technology minister Kapil Sibal today inaugurated the base, Himadri , about 1,200km from the North Pole, from where Indian scientists hope to conduct studies on Arctic biology, the upper atmosphere and glaciology.

“Our science in the Arctic will complement our ongoing science on Antarctica,” said Rasik Ravindra, leader of the Arctic team and director of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa.

The team includes scientists from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow, the Snow and Avalanche Establishment, the NCAOR and a university in Bhopal. Scientists from the Geological Survey of India and the National Physical Laboratory will fly there later this month.

“Compared to Antarctica, the connectivity here is very good,” Ravindra said over phone from Himadri. “We could have scientists flying in more frequently for short-term field research.”

India is the 10th country to set up a research station at Ny-Alesund, one of the world’s northernmost settlements and a permanent science outpost. Last year, five Indian scientists had travelled to the town for a few weeks to study ice, rocks, the upper atmosphere and microbial communities, marking the country’s first Arctic science adventure — more than a quarter of a century after Indian scientists set up a base in Antarctica.

Ny-Alesund was founded as a coal town during the early part of the 20th century, but mining activities were abandoned in the 1960s. India will conduct its Arctic science in a one-time school where children of coal miners used to receive lessons.

“This will be our full-fledged research base,” Ravindra said. The school’s ground floor has laboratories and its upper floor living quarters for up to eight scientists, he said.

China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK have research stations at Ny-Alesund. Scientific activity peaks during summer when the town expects 100 to 150 scientists.