![]() ![]() For example, Matthews discovered that the amount of oxygen available to climbers on the upper slopes varies considerably with the weather.Īltogether, the network was gathering information that could directly impact not only the lives of mountaineers and Sherpa, but also the 1.6 billion people who rely on freshwater from the region-until its components began to fail.Īt about the same time the Balcony Station stopped transmitting, the wind sensors below it-at the next highest station, on the South Col-went offline as well. "And that can cascade into estimates of how sensitive glaciers are to temperature change.”įrom the weather stations' data, the team also gleaned new information relevant to the hundreds of mountaineers who come to Everest every year. “Effectively, there’s more melting going on than we knew at high altitude, which affects our estimates of how much snow there is," Matthews explains. When all that energy is reflected or absorbed into the mountain’s surface, it causes solid ice to transform directly to vapor, producing significant losses of the ice mass-even at temperatures well below zero. “The summit of Mount Everest may well be the sunniest place on Earth,” Matthews says. In particular, the stations have revealed that high-altitude snow and ice were disappearing much faster than previously assumed. As the 20 data continue to be analyzed, they're yielding surprising conclusions across a diverse field of studies, from human physiology to questions of long-term water supplies and seasonal crop cycles. Video by Arbindra Khadkaįor climate scientists Tom Matthews and Baker Perry, co-leaders of the project, the readings the station broadcasted via satellite link have provided a trove of insights into the meteorological “hidden realm” of the world’s highest mountain and the surrounding Hindu Kush Himalaya. They placed the new station higher on the mountain at a spot known as Bishop's Rock, named for Barry Bishop, a member of the 1963 expedition, the first American team to summit Everest. The team brought a redesigned weather station to replace the one installed in 2019. ![]() In it was a data logger that contained the last data the station had collected before succumbing to the extreme conditions. Kneeling in the snow next to the wrecked station, Tenzing removed a screwdriver and wrench from his pack and began to unfasten a small gray pelican case that was bolted to the mast. It was one of five automatic weather stations placed in May 2019 as part of a partnership between the National Geographic Society Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal and the Nepal government, with funding from Rolex. The Balcony Station had stopped transmitting on January 20, 2020-seven months after it was installed. Tenzing, a 31-year-old electrician and mountain guide, removed his phone from his down suit and began taking pictures of the scene. Now, the mangled seven-foot-tall mast lay on its side, embedded in ice. In reality, it was $30,000 of precision instruments designed to measure wind, humidity, temperature, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. When the station was first assembled and bolted to the rock, it looked like an elaborate backyard antenna festooned with bird-feeders and weather vanes. In front of his crampons, half-buried in the hardened snow, were the remains of the world’s highest weather station. On a postcard day in 2021, Tenzing Gyalzen Sherpa crested the Balcony, a windswept rest spot high on Mount Everest’s Southeast Ridge. Some companies even sell packages that include a station and meteobridge with everything you need as a Ready-to-Go Solution.This article was supported by Rolex, which is partnering with the National Geographic Society on science-based expeditions to explore, study, and document change in the planet’s most unique regions. Davis stations ( Vantage Vue or PRO2) will be a good choice when looking for quality for reasonable price, Peet Bros Ultimeter are also great value if wired sensors will work in your setup. If you do not have a weather station yet, which one to choose? depends on your budget. If you go for Meteobridge PRO device, license fee is already included. More info at Meteobridge is a commercial software that will run for 14 days in trial period, then the full one-time licence costs 65 EUR. Meteobridge supports many different weather stations so you can choose from cheap to high quality stations, according to your preference. Meteobridge runs on cheap routers (as an alternative firmware) or you can get a specialised device: Meteobridge PRO. Meteobridge is a small device with software that will transform many popular stations into an online station capable of uploading measurements to different weather networks (including Windguru of course). ![]()
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