Congratulations! Our scientific expedition team successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest

2023 "Peak Mission" Everest Scientific Expedition

Currently underway in the Mount Everest region of Tibet

today

2023 Everest Expedition

13 scientific expedition members

Successfully climbed Mount Everest

This is the first time that my country's Mount Everest scientific expedition will be launched after 2022.

Reaching an altitude of over 8,000 meters again

On May 23, the scientific expedition team displayed the flag of the Second Comprehensive Scientific Survey and Research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at the summit of Mount Everest.

Image source: Xinhua News Agency (Photographer: Raba)

The world's highest automatic weather station successfully upgraded its technology

According to earlier news, at 3 a.m. on the 23rd, 13 scientific expedition members set out from the Mount Everest assault camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters. After 8 hours of climbing, they arrived at the world's highest automatic weather observation station at an altitude of 8,830 meters at around 11 a.m. They fixed steel wire ropes, replaced batteries, installed wind speed and direction sensors... After about an hour of intense work, the maintenance and upgrade of the automatic weather station was completed.

At 11:54, the technology of the world's highest automatic weather station at an altitude of 8,830 meters was successfully upgraded. At 12:20, the data was successfully transmitted to the Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters through the weather station.

More than just “measuring height”! What exactly are the scientists who climb Mount Everest studying?

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the roof of the world, the water tower of Asia, and the third pole of the earth. As the highest peak in the world, the unique position, geology, and ecological structure of Mount Everest make the significance of studying it far beyond the peak itself. Climbing Mount Everest is the best opportunity to obtain first-hand data for studying Mount Everest.

In such a complex environment, what should scientists who climb Mount Everest do?

Generally speaking, "measuring the height" of Mount Everest is one of the most watched tasks.

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

This data is not only a record of the "height" of the highest peak, but also provides rich information for studying geological movements such as plate changes. In addition, Mount Everest, like the North and South Poles, has a unique ecological structure, so the ecological changes here are also regarded as a "litmus paper" for global environmental changes.

This scientific expedition is led by strategic scientists in related fields. A total of more than 170 expedition members from 5 expedition teams and 13 expedition groups participated. It focuses on the synergy and impact of the westerly-monsoon, changes in the Asian water tower, ecosystems and carbon cycles, changes in human activities, rare metal resources and other directions for comprehensive scientific investigation and research.

Why is May always the month for climbing Mount Everest? There is a reason behind this!

Looking through the historical records of Chinese mountaineering teams in recent years, we find that they mostly choose to reach the summit around May. What is the reason behind this?

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

In fact, the timing of climbing to the summit is mainly related to the weather conditions on Mount Everest.

From October of each year to March or April of the following year, it is the windy season in the Everest region. The wind speed increases with the increase in altitude. At an altitude of 8,000 meters in the Everest region, the monsoon is unobstructed and very strong.

June to September is the rainy season in the Everest region. As warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean move up along the valley, they easily condense into clouds and rain, so there is often mixed rain and snow or heavy snow, and the weather changes very quickly.

(Copyrighted image from the gallery, no permission to reprint)

Taking the above two conditions into consideration, the best climbing season to reach the summit from the north side of Mount Everest is from late April to early June and from mid-September to early October.

Therefore, May becomes the golden window period for climbing Mount Everest.

What does it mean to set up an automatic weather observation station at an altitude of 8,830 meters?

Since 2021, Mount Everest scientific expedition experts have overcome numerous difficulties and successively built and operated eight automatic meteorological observation stations in the high-altitude areas on the north slope of Mount Everest. The highest station is built at an altitude of 8,830 meters.

On May 4, 2022, during the "Peak Mission 2022" Mount Everest scientific expedition, all 13 scientific mountaineers reached the summit, and the five-star red flag fluttered at the top of the world.

GIF source: CCTV News

What does it mean to build a meteorological observation station at 8,830 meters?

First of all, this means that China has built the world's highest-altitude automatic meteorological observation station and completed meteorological scientific surveys that have never been done in history.

In addition, meteorological observation data in extremely high altitude areas are also very scarce worldwide. Therefore, this measure will also make a significant contribution to filling the gaps in global meteorological records.

This is an automatic weather station set up at an altitude of about 5,200 meters in the Mount Everest area (photo taken on April 24, 2022). Xinhua News Agency

Meteorological observation is an important part of this expedition to Mount Everest and the second Qinghai-Tibet expedition. Academician Yao Tandong, leader of the second Qinghai-Tibet expedition and chief commander of the Mount Everest expedition, said that the 2023 expedition to Mount Everest will focus on major scientific issues such as how the extremely high altitude environment of Mount Everest will change under the influence of global warming, how the environmental changes of Mount Everest will interact with the westerly winds and monsoons, and how the future environment of the Mount Everest region will affect the changes in the Asian water tower.

According to reports, the Second Comprehensive Scientific Expedition and Research Team of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has previously harvested a series of scientific research results in many fields including "Westerly-monsoon synergy and impact", "strong warming at peak altitude", "ice and snow melting at peak altitude", "special physiological reactions of the human body in the Mount Everest area", and "ecological process of greening in the Mount Everest area" through its scientific expedition activities at Mount Everest.

Salute to the climbers and look forward to their triumphant return!

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, Xinhuanet, CCTV News, etc.