everest is one of the most extreme
environments
on the planet and nobody has ever fully
quantified
the climate conditions up there
we’re going to be pushing the envelope
attempting to
install the highest weather station in
the world
to improve our understanding of the weather
patterns
and climate change in the mount everest
region
these high mountain regions are changing
faster
than other places around the world
the highest elevations are actually
believed to be warming
at faster rates than other lower
elevation regions
my major role in this expedition is to
install
a network of weather stations including
what we hope to be the highest weather
station in the world
[Music]
Weather Stations
we’re here installing the lowest of our
network of weather stations
firstly to transmit the data we require
quite a lot of power
if the system doesn’t have enough power
it will refuse to transmit data
that would mean we couldn’t see what was
going on in real time which is what we
really want we want to know in real time
what’s going on on the mountain
the weather station sees a whole year’s
worth of weather possibilities
measuring the wind speed thermal
radiation
temperature humidity and precipitation
we can use machine learning to provide a
totally different approach to how you
can forecast weather
we are filling in gaps in how the
climate is changing
there are multiple stations going up
including one at fort st
one station at base camp one in camp two
another at the south call and then we
will
attempt to install one above eight
thousand meters
Climbing Everest
let’s face it climbing everest is still
a very difficult thing to do
it takes years of time developing the
skills the confidence
the ability to deal with a constantly
changing mountain environment
to deal with the cold to deal with a
high altitude
and you can’t fake it pretty snug
but not so snug that i’m pushing really
hard against my face
and then just set your reducer right on
top and then you’re going to be spinning
the bottle counterclockwise
Base Camp Rover
this morning we have installed what we
call the base camp
rover it’s critical to have the station
here on the glacier to be able to
observe and to measure the
meteorological processes
we’ve got electronics that need to
operate at extreme temperatures
exceptionally high wind speeds having
instruments that can work in those sorts
of environments
has been a big challenge and that plane
is good so yeah tying everything
have you already
[Music]
The Challenge
there’s a reason that some of this has
never been done before
logistically it’s exceptionally
challenging
it’s physically demanding in and of
itself just to climb and function up at
8 000 meters
to try to do science up at some of these
elevations is an added
challenge
i think people are feeling as good as we
can at this stage of the expedition and
uh
we’re excited to move up to camp too
[Music]
Moving Up
as a scientist we’re used to having to
be patient with things and this
expedition has been no different
it’s been nothing but eat sleep think
everest for the last nine months
camp jew station is in
this environment is uncontrollable it’s
hostile
it doesn’t care whether we’re successful
on our expedition
and we have to be prepared to deal with
that as best as possible
it’s 10 45 p.m i’ll be lying if i said i
wasn’t
a bit nervous i am i know how big the
challenge is ahead
i feel very confident in our team
we know that we may be limited by the
weather so we’re going to try and get up
there
just as the sun is rising when the winds
are lowest
we have maximum for oxygen about three
hours to install the station
we need to be efficient and work as a
team
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
a bit worried there won’t be everything
clearly
we may make a mistake that means we
leave those stations
in a position that’s sub-optimal that
they’re not transmitting
the dark jackets
the sun’s about to come up
my fear is i won’t know my limitation
they’re all their efforts for nothing
[Music]
it’s about being resilient in the face
of a mountain really doesn’t care about
you
temperatures
it’s a rare opportunity to come here and
do a scientific expedition like this
[Music]
this is the highest weather station in
the world
that gives us information to plan for
future
scenarios of climate change
now washington dc
i’ve got to be the hype that’s been
installed
the balcony
such a great job
[Music]
you
