About NCPOR

National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, is India’s premier R&D institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.

The mandate of NCPOR is multi-dimensional: 

• Leadership role in niche areas of scientific research in the domain of polar and ocean sciences.
• Facilitatory role in the scientific research activities being undertaken by several national institutions and organizations in Antarctica, Arctic and Southern Ocean as well as in Himalayas.
• Management role in all operational and logistics activities related to the annual Indian Expeditions to the Antarctic, Arctic and Southern Ocean.
• Management and upkeep of the Indian Antarctic Research Bases “Maitri” and “Bharati”, and the Indian Arctic base “Himadri” as well as the “Himansh” base in Himalaya.
• Lead role in the study of benchmark glaciers and its hydrological impact in the Western Himalaya
• Lead role in the deep ocean survey and exploration for hydrothermal minerals under the Deep Ocean Mission, geoscientific surveys of the country’s exclusive economic zone, extended shelf, Arabian Sea drilling and the Indian Ocean Geoid Low.
• Management of the Ministry’s research vessel ORV Sagar Kanya as well as the other research vessels chartered by the Ministry