The team celebrates after setting up the world's highest operating automated weather station during National Geographic and Rolex's 2019 Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition to Mt. Everest. Photo by Mark Fisher, National Geographic.

天堂视频 researcher joins team to install highest weather stations in the world on Mount Everest

A climate scientist from 天堂视频 was part of the team that installed the two highest weather stations in the world on Mount Everest to enable communities to respond to climate risks.

Led by the National Geographic Society and Tribhuvan University in partnership with Rolex, Dr Tom Matthews joined a team of international scientists, storytellers, and climbers on a two-month expedition, to research into the effects of climate change on the glaciers and the environment on the mountain.

Two weather stations were installed by Dr Matthews, Dr Baker Parry from Appalachian State University (North Carolina, USA), and a team of Sherpas, and sit at 8,430 meters and 7,945 meters. A further three stations were also installed.

They will provide researchers, climbers and the public, with near real-time information about mountain conditions.

Each station will record data on aspects such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction.

Previous studies have shown that the glaciers are rapidly disappearing due to increasing global temperatures.

Little is known about future impacts their disappearance could have on the lives and livelihoods of the more than one billion people in the region, who depend on the reliable flow of water the glaciers provide.

As well as installing the weather stations, Dr Matthews will also help to monitor the upper atmosphere, which is critical to tracking and predicting weather patterns around the globe.

The National Geographic Society believes the research is the most comprehensive single scientific expedition to the mountain in history.

Dr Tom Matthews, of the University’s School of Social Sciences, said: “This research is important across a range of scales. Locally, the installed weather stations will enable us to improve weather forecasts on Everest, making the mountain safer for those trying to climb it.

"They also inform understanding of how the jet stream may be changing as the climate warms, and how quickly high-altitude glaciers in the Himalayas (which store water for hundreds of millions of people) may be retreating. These issues are of global significance.”

“We tested the weather stations extensively in Nepal, including practicing to erecting them as quickly and efficiently as possible, at altitude, and with a team of six people.

"We knew that the lack of oxygen and the effects of exhaustion would give us a maximum of two to three hours to get the station up and working before we had to descend.”


‌Dr. Tom Matthews and Dr. Baker Perry, members of the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition to Mt. Everest, work on the automated weather station at Everest Base Camp. Photo by Freddie Wilkinson, National Geographic.

As well as installing the weather stations, members of the expedition team conducted research in five areas of science that are critical to understanding environmental changes and their impacts. The five areas were: biology, glaciology, meteorology, geology, and mapping.

During the expedition the team also:

  • Collected the highest-ever ice core sample (at 8,020 meters)
  • Conducted comprehensive biodiversity surveys at multiple elevations
  • Completed the highest elevation helicopter-based lidar scan
  • Expanded the elevation records for high-dwelling species and documented the history of the mountain’s glaciers.

 Jonathan Baillie, executive vice president and chief scientist at the , said: ”Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity and there is still much to learn about how it’s already altered the world, from the deepest parts of the ocean to its tallest mountains.

“By harnessing our 131-year history of exploration and venturing into some of the most extreme environments on the planet, we will fill critical data gaps on the world’s life support systems and drive solutions to assure that they can continue to fuel our future.”

More in-depth information about the initial scientific findings and their significance is

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 19/85

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National Geographic Society

The Everest expedition is part of National Geographic’s newly established Life at the Extremes program and is the first in a series of Perpetual Planet Extreme Expeditions that are supported by a renewed and expanded partnership between National Geographic and Rolex. The expeditions aim to explore and better understand some of the most extreme environments on planet Earth. Data collected from the Perpetual Planet Extreme Expeditions in these environments will support new decision-making tools, called Perpetual Planet Extreme Indices, which will provide real-time and historical data on the factors that contribute to the health of these ecosystems. Additionally, to underscore the urgency of the team’s work, the scientific research conducted by the expedition team will be complemented by coverage in National Geographic’s robust portfolio of media assets, including on NationalGeographic.com and in National Geographic magazine.

Learn more

You can follow updates from the Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition: Everest and explore historical and new data about the role of Mount Everest as a water tower for the region at .

For more on the Life at the Extremes program, you can visit .

Resources 

 A full fact sheet outlining the scientific goals and accomplishments of the Perpetual Planet Extreme Expedition: Everest is .

  • Meet the expedition team members .
  • More on the partnership between National Geographic and Rolex, .
  • Photo assets for coverage of the expedition are .

 

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