China sets up world’s highest automatic weather station

By: 3 years ago

A scientific research member checks a microwave radiometer at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on May 3, 2022. XINHUA via China Daily/Asia News Network

MOUNT QOMOLANGMA BASE CAMP – Chinese scientific researchers on Wednesday established an automatic meteorological monitoring station at an altitude of over 8,800 meters, the world’s highest of its kind, on Mount Qomolangma on the China-Nepal border.

It has replaced the station sitting at an altitude of 8,430 meters on the south side of the mountain, set up by British and US scientists in 2019, to become the world’s highest, according to the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Including the new station, eight elevation gradient meteorological stations have been set up on Mount Qomolangma, one of the main tasks in China’s new comprehensive scientific expedition on the world’s highest peak.

Zhao Huabiao, a researcher with the ITP, said the monitored meteorological data will support scientific research and mountaineering activities.

The new comprehensive scientific expedition on Mount Qomolangma is part of China’s second scientific research survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Weather factors such as temperature, wind speed and humidity will directly affect the completion of scientific research tasks and the safety of research personnel at high altitude. Therefore, a meteorological support team has been launched in safeguards of the scientific expedition.

A staff member of the Meteorological Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region checks real-time data in an emergency support vehicle at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on May 3, 2022. (XINHUA via China Daily/Asia News Network)

Scientific research members check atmospheric data at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on May 3, 2022. (XINHUA via China Daily/Asia News Network)

The team is composed of staff members from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, and the Meteorological Bureau of Tibet Autonomous Region, etc.