Union Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju launched the maiden Indian Winter Arctic Expedition here on Monday.
This maiden winter expedition is comprised of four scientists, who will visit the Arctic region to make atmospheric observations during the night and carry out auroral studies and changes in sea ice. Now, India will have a year-long presence at Himadri, the country’s Arctic research station located in Spitsbergen in Norway, as it has in the Antarctic, near the South Pole.
Speaking on the occasion, Rijiju said that it will be interesting to see how the first batch of four researchers will function there in winter. “Because you are going there for the first time,” he said.
Rijiju made a two-day visit to Himadri in June this year.
“When I saw our Himadri station in the Arctic, I realised that we have a potential and people trust us. The Norwegian Polar Institute people also had shown lots of faith in Indian scientists, they expect that India will make substantial contributions to climate science,” he said. “Our presence in the Arctic during the winter will add substantial value in the whole process,” the minister added. As per the government, the Himadri operations for year-round observations will help more optimal and efficient utilisation of the research station and will address the knowledge gap and data deficiency during winter polar nights, especially in atmospheric sciences, space physics and biological sciences. India’s vision behind launching the first Winter Arctic Expedition is to expand the country’s scientific activities to other critical and core Arctic realms.
It also aims to establish a network of observatories to study “land-sea-atmosphere-cryosphere” interactions and to initiate sustained scientific observations in the Arctic Ocean to understand the sea-ice loss and its impact on Monsoons among others.