[Sreekar]

India to soon have a research base in Arctic
(TimesofIndia.com)

India will soon have a permanent postal address in the Arctic.

Taking advantage of the unique international Svalbard Treaty signed in 1920, to which it was a signatory, India will be able to set up a permanent research station at Ny Alesund, on the Svalbard archipelago which comes under Norwegian sovereignty, boosting its knowledge of climate change, other critical natural phenomena and the disturbance humans cause to nature's processes.

Perhaps waking a bit too late in the day, considering India has already sent 26 missions to the Antarctic and has two permanent bases there, the research base at 79 degree north will be set up under a five-year contract with the Norwegian government and Kings Bay, the Norwegian government-held company that runs the logistics at the research station.

The Svalbard Treaty allows every signatory country, that includes Afghanistan, to set up any business and activity on the archipelago - which earlier was better known for its coal mining industry - as long as it falls within Norwegian regulations. Formal negotiations between the two countries are close to completion for India to take position close to the North Pole.

The move to set up the permanent station at Ny Alesund matured with India sending its first Arctic mission recently. Three of the five researchers sent as part of the first of the two teams comprising the mission have already made themselves at home at the international research station.

Rubbing shoulders with the Chinese, Germans and French, and obviously the Norwegian researchers, they are busy collecting samples.

The sun never sets, quite literally in the Arctic summer. Besides the bags of tagged samples one finds kept in an old school building of the camp, there are other tell tale signs that Indian researchers are at work - empty packets of Indian cigarettes, though stashed well in the bins, not strewn around.

"This are not unfamiliar climes as we have a long history in the Antarctic but this surely provides completely new avenues for research to us," explains an excited Dr C G Deshpande, scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and member of the team.

-Thanks much,
Sreekar