A year after sending its first fully fledged expedition to the Arctic (see _Nature_ 448, 642–643; 2007), India has established a research station in Svalbard, about 1,200 kilometres from the North Pole.

Officials signed an agreement with the Norwegian Polar Institute on 1 July to establish the base, called Himadri. The base will be managed by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research in Goa, which already maintains two research stations in Antarctica.

Research at the Arctic base will take place all year-round and will focus on climate change, officials say.