Mt. Qomolangma expedition 2023 to upgrade meteorological observation level

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The leader of a Chinese expedition team that summited Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak, on Tuesday to carry out scientific research has disclosed that the team will upgrade the observation level there.

During an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Yao Tandong, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and team leader of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, said that the power supply system for meteorological stations on Mount Qomolangma will be optimized and upgraded.

"We cooperated with the lunar exploration project team to develop a type of battery that can adapt better to extremely low temperature and low pressure environments, ensuring the stable operations of the stations," Yao said.

The 2023 Mount Qomolangma ascent is part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which began in 2017. It will focus on the multi-sphere and interdisciplinary study, in the fields of glacier runoff, extreme altitude meteorology, plateau carbon sink, paleontology, atmospheric physics and rare metal mineral resources.

When conducting scientific research last year, the team set up five meteorological stations on Mount Qomolangma, which, together with the three stations that had already been built, constitute the gradient meteorological observation system on the peak, according to Yao.

In addition to Mount Qomolangma, there are more than 10 other peaks at ultra-high altitudes across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yao said. They have a convergence effect on the global climate.

"Following the climb this year, we will go to other peaks to explore the driving effects of mountains on climate change," Yao said.