Mount Everest Mountaineering Base Camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters (drone photo taken on May 1). Xinhua News Agency
Lhasa, 2 May (Xinhua) -- An automatic weather station weighing 50 kilograms will be erected at an altitude of 8,800 meters above Sea Level on Mount Everest. It will become the world's highest automatic weather station, and the measured data obtained will fill the gap in the extremely high altitude meteorological record of Mount Everest.
"Peak Mission 2022 - Comprehensive Scientific Investigation and Research in the Extremely High Altitude Areas of Mount Everest" is actively promoting this work. Once completed, this weather station will surpass the automatic weather station built by British and American scientists on the southern slope of Mount Everest in 2019 to become the world's highest automatic weather station, which also means that China's Everest gradient meteorological observation system has been initially completed, which is of great significance for the monitoring of changes in high-altitude glaciers and snow.
Zhao Huabiao, a researcher at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that since the beginning of this year, the scientific expedition team has successively set up four automatic weather stations at an altitude of 5200 meters, 7028 meters, 7790 meters and 8300 meters.
In addition to the three automatic weather stations of 6500 meters, 5800 meters and 5400 meters erected last year, one of the seven gradient automatic weather stations from 5200 meters above sea level to 8300 meters above sea level has been completed and operated. The weather station at an altitude of 8800 meters will be the last piece of the puzzle.
An automatic weather station set up at an altitude of about 5,200 meters above sea level in the Everest region (photo taken on April 24). Xinhua News Agency
With global warming, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region shows the characteristics of the higher the altitude, the greater the increase in heating. Zhao Huabiao said that this phenomenon is based on the observation of meteorological stations below 5,000 meters above sea level, but there is no meteorological measurement data at higher altitudes, but it is only calculated based on remote sensing data.
In order to fill this gap, the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition team determined the layout of 8 automatic weather stations on the north side of Mount Everest. They are distributed in a stepped manner, and the variation characteristics of meteorological elements at very high altitudes are studied by collecting meteorological data.
Among these automatic weather stations, the weather stations at an altitude of 5200 meters are transmitted through 4G networks, and the others transmit real-time data through satellites.
At present, the wind speed of Mount Everest is 7790 meters above sea level, and the erection of weather stations at an altitude of 8800 meters has been repeatedly postponed, and the erection team members are still waiting for the opportunity to climb the mountain. Zhao Huabiao said that the entire equipment was handed over to the mountaineers through spin-offs, and the weight they each bore would not exceed 7 kilograms.
Zhao Huabiao, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on his way to erect an automatic weather station (photo taken on April 28). Xinhua News Agency
Relying on climbers to transport equipment, this process takes a long time. From the forward camp at an altitude of 6500 meters to the Camp North Pass at an altitude of 7028 meters, the team members spend nearly 7 hours, and carrying weights to an altitude of 8800 meters will be more time- and physically demanding.
Zhao Huabiao said that in addition to building an automatic weather station at an altitude of 8800 meters, the expedition team members also carried glacier thickness measurement radar, while measuring the thickness of snow and ice in the peak area, using manual drilling to obtain ice core samples, and then analyzing the climate and environmental changes in extremely high altitude areas.
An automatic weather station set up at an altitude of about 5,200 meters above sea level in the Everest region (photo taken on April 24). Xinhua News Agency
According to the predetermined outlook, 8 altitude gradient automatic weather stations will record the temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation and other data on the north slope of Mount Everest. "Everest is affected by the interaction of monsoon and westerly winds, generally from June to September is significantly affected by monsoons, and other months are significantly affected by westerly winds. The relevant meteorological data collected can also reflect the transition time of the Everest region affected by the monsoon and westerly winds, providing supporting data for the prediction of the coming monsoon in the future. Zhao Huabiao said. (Participating reporters Tian Jinwen and Liu Ying)