Anything above 26,247 feet on Mount Everest is called the “death zone”, which is where there is literally not enough oxygen for humans to breathe anymore. If you go above that line without oxygen, or without enoughoxygen, you won’t make it back down.
Scientists this week announced that five of their newest high-altitude automated monitoring stations were successfully installed in the dead zone on Everest, making one the highest weather station in the world.
Pieces of the station were specially made to be easy to carry and set up, so no one had to take their gloves off for any length of time or risk frostbite. Scientists also used a team of Sherpas who have been traveling the mountain all their lives, so they are aware of risks involved with going that high and their body is more used to the lack of oxygen and extreme weather conditions.
The stations themselves are designed to withstand the cold and wind that comes with being mounted so high. They are rated to withstand winds of up to 225 miles per hour, and temperatures as low as minute 58 degrees Fahrenheit (About minute 50 degrees Celsius). The highest station they installed this week is at 27m,658 feet, or 8,430 meters above sea level.
It seems silly to spend so much time and money monitoring the weather so high above sea level because it isn’t like anyone is living in the dead zone anyway. But scientists are hoping to get vital information on how jet streams move up close to them, as well as what climate change and global warming is doing to mountains and deep snowpacks so far above civilization.
The worry for these snowpacks is that they are melting, and at a fast rate, too. Stories have been popping up in the news about Sherpas finding bodies long-dead that are being revealed by melting ice and snow, pointing to parts of the mountain literally defrosting. The worry is that those small towns that sit on the bottom of mountains just like this are going to be flooding if too much of the snowpack melts too quickly, causing mudslides and other dangerous conditions.
Despite the fact that scientists left important mounting equipment back at the campsite, and batteries getting so cold that they had to be warmed before installation, they were able to get all five stations up and running, with the hope to keep them that way for at least a year. The longer the stations are functional, the more complete picture scientists will have of the mountain and other high altitude locations.
