“巅峰使命”珠峰科考于2022年4月28日全面启动，第二次青藏科考队联合西藏登山队，组织了西风-季风协同作用、亚洲水塔变化、生态系统与生物多样性、人类活动变化、地球动力学勘测等5支科考分队的16个科考小组共270余名科考队员参与了此次活动。“巅峰使命”珠峰科考首次应用先进技术、方法和手段，创造了多项科学考察研究的世界纪录：在海拔8830米成功架设了世界上海拔最高的自动气象站，首次建成了梯度联网的巅峰站，实现了数据实时传输，成为地球之巅科学灯塔；首次利用高精度雷达测量了珠峰顶部的冰雪厚度并获得连续冰雪厚度剖面准确数据；首次取得海拔梯度间隔100米样品支撑的珠峰顶部冰雪样品；采用国内自主研发的先进仪器首次获得珠峰地区地面到上空39公里的臭氧浓度及温度、湿度、风速与风向的垂直变化；首次利用直升机观测拉萨-珠峰地区大气温室气体浓度；创造了浮空艇环境观测的9032米最高海拔世界纪录。“巅峰使命”珠峰科考是自2017年第二次青藏科考启动以来学科覆盖面最广、参加科考队员最多、采用的仪器设备最先进的综合性科考，是人类在珠峰地区开展极高海拔综合科学考察研究的一次壮举。
World's highest automatic weather station to be set up on Mt. Qomolangma
LHASA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists are mounting efforts to establish a meteorological monitoring station at an altitude of 8,800 meters on Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak, on the China-Nepal border.
If the station is established successfully, it will replace the one at an altitude of 8,430 meters set up by the British and U.S. scientists on the south side of the mountain in 2019, to be the world's highest of its kind, according to the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Equipment weighing some 50 kg will be dismantled and distributed to mountaineers, each of whom will carry no more than 7 kg up onto the mountain for the establishment, said Zhao Huabiao, a researcher with the ITP.
A scientific research member extracts microorganism from glacial meltwater at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on April 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)
Currently, the engineers in charge of establishing the station are still waiting for the perfect weather for mountaineering.
Including the highest, eight elevation gradient meteorological stations will be set up on Mount Qomolangma, one of the main tasks in China's new comprehensive scientific expedition on the world's highest peak at the height of 8,848.86 meters.
Three meteorological stations were established at sea levels of 7,028 meters, 7,790 meters and 8,300 meters, respectively, earlier this year on the north side of the mountain, bringing the total number of operational weather stations between the altitudes between 5,200 meters and 8,300 meters to seven. Last year, four stations at sea levels of 6,500 meters, 5,800 meters, 5,400 meters and 5,200 meters were set up.
The new comprehensive scientific expedition on Mount Qomolangma is part of China's second scientific research survey on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which started in 2017.
Aerial photo taken on April 30, 2022 shows a view of the Mount Qomolangma base camp. (Xinhua/Jiang Fan)
Zhao said the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is facing a warming tendency along with global warming, and the higher the altitude is on the plateau, the more the temperature has risen.
Such a conclusion is only based on the data of weather stations at sea levels below 5,000 meters and the estimated calculation in accordance with the remote sensing data, because weather monitoring data from high-altitude stations were missing in the past.
The eight stations will collect the wind speed and wind direction data, as well as relative humidity on the north side of Qomolangma, and the elevation gradient meteorological station system is of great significance for monitoring the melting glaciers and mountain snow at the high altitudes, said Zhao.
Scientific research members set up a wind lidar at the Mount Qomolangma base camp on April 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Sun Fei)
The expedition team will also set up glacier radar and measure the thickness of snow and ice at the summit of the mountain, he said.