MAITRI RESEARCH STATION

WHY IN NEWS?

PIB: The government intends to operationalize a new research station in East Antarctica, near existing Indian research base Maitri.

 India presently has two research stations at Antarctica namely ‘Maitri’ and ‘Bharati’. New station ‘Bharati’ was constructed and established in March, 2013. Maitri station has been in operation since 1989.

ABOUT MAITRI

Maitri also known as Friendship Research Centre, is India‘s second permanent research station in Antarctica as part of the Indian Antarctic Programme.

LOCATION

Maitri is situated in the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis.

It is an inland station about 100 km from the shore at an elevation of about 50 meters above sea level.

FACILITIES

The station has modern facilities to research in various disciplines, such as biology, earth sciences, glaciology, atmospheric sciences, meteorology, cold region engineering, communication, human physiology, and medicine.

It can accommodate 25 people for winter.

India also built a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadarshini for water supply