India's 1st winter Arctic expedition to kick off today

On Tuesday, India will commence its first ever winter expedition to the Ny-Alesund research base in Svalbard, Norway, where the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) has a research station, Himadri, reported. The expedition and the associated experiments will continue till the end of March with research teams spending a month each in the frigid climate. Thamban Meloth, director of NCPOR, said the research will help collect data on atmospheric processes like the aurora borealis (northern lights), atmospheric electricity during winter, and other space physics studies.