Peak climbers of China's "Earth Summit Mission 2022" expedition drill ice core from the top of Mount Qomolangma, May 4, 2022. /China Media Group
China's "Earth Summit Mission 2022" scientific expedition summited Mount Qomolangma on Wednesday, then successfully conducted observation and sampling missions.
Three major tasks were accomplished on top of the mountain – 8,848.68 meters above sea level.
First, the world's highest automatic meteorological station was installed at an altitude of 8,830 meters at 12:46 p.m. The weather station will obtain data from the surrounding area, filling the gap in the meteorological record of the world's "third pole."
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Detecting the thickness of ice and snow at the summit is also the focus and difficulty of this expedition. It is the first time that the expedition team will measure the thickness of snow with a precise ground penetrating radar.
Before reaching the peak of Mount Qomolangma, scientists have collected snow ice and rock samples at the altitude of 5,800 meters and 8,300 meters.
A specially designed light-weight ice drilling equipment is used to extract ice cores on the roof of the world. The drilled ice cores are carefully stored and carried down for scientists to analyze chemical particles, melting history and other biological information of the layers of ice on the mountain.
"We want to know what's inside the snow from the highest altitude on Earth," said Wu Jianguang, researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Along with the expedition to the summit of the mountain, climbers also monitored their health conditions through wearable devices to track and analyze the human body's adaptation to high altitudes.
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