KATHMANDU- Climate scientists Tom Matthews and Baker Perry, accompanied by a crew of engineers, installed the world’s highest operational weather station at Mt. Everest. The weather station is 7-foot tall and was erected at a flank called Death Point located at a height of 8,430 meters on the mountain. The team also installed 5 other weather stations at various heights on the Everest. The other five weather station are located at Balcony area (8,430 m), South Col (7,945m), Phortse (3,810 m), Everest Base Camp (5,315 m) and Camp 2 (6,464 m). The expedition team was assembled by the National Geographic Society and had over 30 members from 8 different countries and included 17 Nepali researchers.
The station would record the temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. This would enable scientists to observe and understand the jet stream phenomenon and deduce how climate change is affecting the Himalayas. It’ll also be the first to sample the stratosphere as natural variations in the atmospheric boundaries continuously change over time.
The team also conducted research in biology, glaciology, meteorology, geology and mapping to get a better understanding of environmental change and its impacts. For the expedition, The National Geographic Society had teamed up with Tribhuvan University, the Nepal government and also received funds from Rolex.