National Institute of Polar Research

Academic journal Polar Science features 40 years of India's activities in polar research

February 4, 2022

The National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) publishes Polar Science, a peer-reviewed quarterly journal dealing with polar science in collaboration with the Elsevier B. V.. The most recent special issue (Vol. 30 published on 8 December 2021) was entitled "Polar Studies - Window to the changing Earth," which was planned to commemorate four decades of India's activities in polar research and its international scientific collaborations. India is holding the 10th SCAR (the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) Open Science Conference from 01st to 10th August 2022, commemorating India's 75th year of Independence. In the special issue, 34 high-quality papers were collected from topical results of India-led polar studies. The full text of this issue will be freely accessible worldwide until 21 July 2022.

The polar regions, the Arctic, Antarctica, the Himalayas, and the Southern Ocean, are essential components of the global climate system. While changes in the polar areas affect the low latitudes regions where human societies are concentrated, human activities also affect the polar regions, as follows.

• The Arctic：It is known that global warming is advancing twice as fast in the Arctic as the global average. It has also been discovered that the Arctic and the atmosphere above it significantly influence the weather patterns at the lower latitudes.
• Antarctica：Antarctica is the least impacted region on the Earth by human activity, as it is protected from development by a human under geographical isolation. Since ancient environments have been recorded in Antarctica by multiple means, Antarctica is getting more attention to understand paleoclimate and reconstruct the future through various approaches. On the other hand, in recent years, the impact of human activities is being realized, such as the melting of the ice sheet, which is the world's most extensive freshwater storage.

However, the polar regions are the least understood environments on the Earth due to their remoteness from human society and severe climate. To contribute to the advancement of polar research, India has been actively engaged in Antarctica for over four decades. Since the first national research institute, more than 20 years of efforts have promoted research. That research organization was reorganized into the National Center for Polar and Marine Research (NCPOR), leading world-class research today. Based on the research stations in the Arctic, Antarctica, and Himalayan highlands, NCPOR is working on a comprehensive understanding of the three polar regions.

“It is noteworthy that NCPOR also has a research base in the Himalayas,” said Dr. Avinash Kumar, Scientist E of NCPOR, the Managing Guest Editor of this special issue. “The Himalayas is the third polar region, located at low and mid-latitudes close to the human living area. Understanding climate change in this region is critical for estimating the impact of ongoing global warming. NCPOR is truly a transhemispheric organization with research bases in the Arctic (Himadri), the Antarctic (Maitri and Bharati), and in the Himalaya-(Himansh). India is currently exploring all three poles holistically, as well as their role in governing the ocean, atmospheric connections, and the long-term repercussions on the Indian subcontinent.”

In the previous special issue of India (Vol. 18 published in 2018) published by NIPR, 23 papers were selected from a number of research results related to India, focusing on polar meteorological science. The latest issue was planned to understand oceanic - atmospheric sciences, paleoclimatic conditions, and biogeochemical processes in the polar and surrounding ocean realms. In addition, it coincides with the completion of 75 years of India's Independence being celebrated as “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (Elixir of Freedom Festival)” and the first SCAR Open Science Conference in India in August 2022.

"We are confident that the reports of the series of Indian-led polar research projects will provide us with many opportunities to develop further interdisciplinary global collaborations,” said Dr. Kumar.

About Special Issue of Polar Science Volume 30

Title: Polar Studies - Window to the changing Earth
Managing Guest Editor: Avinash Kumar
Guest Editors: Satoshi Imura, Seong-Joong Kim, Kottekkattu Padinchati, Krishnan, Rahul Mohan, Naresh Chandra Pant, John Turner
URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/polar-science/vol/30/

About Polar Science

Polar Science is a peer-reviewed comprehensive academic journal relating to the polar regions of the Earth and other planets, which the NIPR began to publish in collaboration with Elsevier B.V. in 2007. The primary purpose of this journal is to inform people about polar science. Currently, more than 100 articles are submitted per year. As a result, this journal is recognized globally as one of the few comprehensive academic journals in the field of polar science. In addition to normal issues, Polar Science publishes a special issue annually on a given topic from various fields.

The main characteristics of Polar Science are summarized as follows.

• Polar Science is an international academic journal with an impact factor of 1.927 as of 2020
• Polar Science covers 15 disciplines related to the Antarctic and the Arctic, such as:
  - Space and upper atmosphere physics
  - Atmospheric science/Climatology
  - Glaciology
  - Oceanography/Sea ice studies
  - Geology/Petrology
  - Solid earth geophysics/Seismology
  - Marine earth science
  - Geomorphology/Cenozoic-Quaternary geology
  - Meteoritics
  - Terrestrial biology
  - Marine biology
  - Animal ecology
  - Environment
  - Polar engineering
  - Humanities and social sciences
• Polar Science has an Open Archive whereby published articles are made freely available from ScienceDirect after an embargo period of 24 months from the date of publication.
• Printed products are also published.
• After Polar Science became an open archive in 2016, the number of article downloads has increased rapidly since then. Currently, more than 180,000 papers are used (PDF download and HTML Views) annually.