Going to Extremes: Installing the World’s Highest Weather Stations on Mount Everest

Abstract

Capsule We installed the world’s highest weather stations on Mount Everest, offering new insights into water resources under climate change, and potentially improving climber safety.

Precipitation Characteristics and Moisture Source Regions on Mt. Everest in the Khumbu, Nepal

“…Briefly, we analyze long-term daily precipitation from Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) climate stations; moisture, temperature, and winds from ERA5 data; and hourly precipitation and other meteorolog-ical parameters from the National Geographic Society (NGS) AWS network in the Khumbu region ( Figure 1). The new AWS network 13 complements an existing array of AWSs operated by the Institute for Development Research (IRD) and Tribhuvan University (TU), 33 and includes two comprehensive precipitation monitoring stations with weighing precipitation gauges and double alter windshields at Phortse (3,810 m asl) and Everest Base Camp (5,315 m asl). Three additional stations that are part of this new network are located above 6,000 m asl on Mt.…”

“…Indeed, the 2019 monsoon did not arrive in the Khumbu until early July. 13,76 Despite the paucity of long-term records of snowfall and snow depth across the Khumbu, it is apparent that the six major snowstorms of >10 mm le, 120.5 mm total precipitation, and nearly continuous snow cover during DJF were highly anomalous. The DJF Phortse precipitation totals were also considerably more than the climatological mean precipitation from nearby stations (54.7 mm) as well as Pyramid (32.3 mm).…”

“…As part of the 2019 Everest Expedition, five weather stations were installed along an elevational transect in the Khumbu region and were described by Matthews et al 13 Of particular relevance for this paper, Phortse and Everest Base Camp precipitation sensors consist of two Pluvio 2 1500 weighing precipitation gauges surrounded by Belfort double-alter windshields. Table S5 summarizes the data sources and time periods used for this study.…”

“…For example, nearly all long-term observations of precipitation are from weather stations below 3,000 m, meaning that glacierized elevations have been largely unmonitored. 13,14 As a result, precipitation amounts in these regions are poorly quantified, 15 and understanding of key processes remains limited, leading to substantial uncertainties in future projections of climate, glacier mass balance, and water resource availability. 16 Improving our knowledge of the precipitation climatology and key processes in the HKH is critical.…”

Review

“…I think that the Everest climate data is showing that the large input of shortwave energy and monsoonal activity allow for the glacier surface to reach melting temperatures despite below freezing air temperatures. Since the authors are seen this possible effect, I think there is a great opportunity to test whether some of the high-elevation melt events coincide with the conditions depicted in Matthews et al (2020), by looking at weather conditions around those dates. (5) L206: Is it possible to attempt a sensitivity analysis of the b value?…”