China to set up world’s highest weather station on Everest

Chinese researchers are on the verge of setting up the highest weather station in the world on Mount Everest at an altitude of 8,800 metres.

A high-precision radar will be used in the weather station to measure the thickness of snow and ice on the peak of the world’s highest mountain, which is on the China-Nepal border.

Twelve members of the research team carrying scientific equipment left the temporary camp at an altitude of 8,300 metres (27,200 feet) at 3:00am on Wednesday and started the final-stage “summit moment”, establishing the station shortly before 1:00pm, Chinese daily South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

The new station will replace the Balcony Station which was set up by the American and British scientists in 2019 at about 8,430 metres above sea level. The Balcony station earlier was the highest weather station in the world.

During the expedition, one of the members of the research team suffered from frostbite and that compelled the member to stay at the camp, according to the state broadcaster CCTV

The scientific research project on Everest named “Summit Mission” was fully launched on April 28.

Five scientific research teams, 16 scientific research groups and more than 270 researchers are taking part in the project, according to CCTV.

At the time of the expedition, the scientists would conduct research across a broad range of areas using advanced instruments and equipment.

Mount Everest is also known as the roof of the world, the water tower of Asia and the earth’s third pole which is located at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua before the mission, the leader of the Summit Mission Yao Tandong said Chinese researchers are expected to achieve a breakthrough this year by applying advanced technologies for the first time.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is significant for various reasons as it originated many important rivers in the world and also because its biodiversity resembled a “miniature landscape of the Earth”, said Yao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who specialises in studying glaciers. Showing his concern, Yao said, scientists have been noticing changes in the climate and environment of the Tibetan Plateau that can affect the world.

The new weather station is an important part of the plateau research that China has been planning for many years, Yao added.

The climbing team had more than two years of special training in collecting samples, setting up and using instruments and equipment, according to Yao.

“As professional scientific researchers, they are expected to do the summit sampling for the first time and perform tasks such as erecting a gradient weather station, ice-core drilling and radar thickness measurement at the summit,” he said. “We believe we will come up with more discoveries and progress in the international arena and this will strengthen China’s voice in the related scientific research fields.”

China has been conducting research the world’s tallest peak since the 1950s.