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On the roof of the world, a Chinese team tests the extremes of environmental science
- Researchers summit Cho Oyu, one of the planet’s highest mountains to monitor high-altitude changes and their effects on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
- Team leader says the peak’s thick ice and snow cover make it a rich potential ecological archive
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Luna Sunin Beijing
A Chinese scientific expedition team reached the summit of Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth-highest mountain, on Sunday morning, state media reported.
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“This marks the first time that [a Chinese] scientific expedition team has reached a peak above 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) other than Mount Everest, signifying that China has developed a systematic ability to conduct comprehensive scientific investigations at extremely high altitudes,” state news agency Xinhua reported.
The 18 members of the expedition team will undertake various scientific tasks at an extreme altitude, including setting up high-altitude automatic weather stations, measuring the thickness of the summit’s ice and snow, drilling ice cores, and collecting snow, ice and rock samples.
Cho Oyu is in the Himalayas on the border between Nepal and the Tibet autonomous region, about 30km (18½ miles) east of Mount Everest, known in China as Mount Qomolangma.
Its peak is about 8,201 metres above sea level and, as with Everest, is covered in snow year round.
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