Once again, China has conquered the world’s highest peak, Mount Qomolangma, on May 4th, 2022. Thirteen members of the Chinese Earth Summit Mission 2022 scientific expedition (探险) team successfully established an automatic weather station at an altitude of over 8800 meters, the world’s highest of its kind, on Mount Qomolangma on the China-Nepal border, achieving the milestone task of the country’s second comprehensive survey to the roof of the world.
To finish this mission, Yao Tandong, a leader of the expedition, said they have organized a massive party consisting of 16 teams and over 270 researchers, some of whom trained for over two years for the project. Now they have set up eight stations from 5200 meters to 8800 meters on Mount Qomolangma, with four stations higher than 7000 meters respectively at 7028 meters, 7790 meters, 8300 meters and 8800 meters. These weather stations at different altitudes mainly monitor the temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, wind speed, pressure and radiation changes in the region, and can realize real-time remote transmission (传输) of data.
Conventional weather observations are generally below 5000 meters and rarely above 5000 meters, and such high-altitude weather observations are scarce at the moment, Zhao Huabiao, a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, said. “The reason for building a weather station at 8800 meters instead of 8848 meters is that the snow and ice on the summit are not suitable for fixing equipment, and in this regard, the weather station was built on bedrock around 8800 meters which is easier,” said Zhao.
The team reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma and used high-accuracy radar to measure the thickness of ice and snow, and collected samples for further research. Kang Shichang, a researcher of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said studying the changes to the glacier aims to clarify the impact of global warming, which is beneficial to mounting a global response to climate change. “Through the study of glacier changes and glacier air pollutants, we can see the impact of global and regional human activities in the Qomolangma area,” Kang said.
12. What do we know about the expedition team?
A.They built the world’s highest automatic weather station. |
B.They found the quickest way to reach Mount Qomolangma. |
C.They conducted an experiment successfully on the world’s highest peak. |
D.They became the first Chinese team to do research on Mount Qomolangma. |
13. What do the figures in paragraph 2 mainly indicate?
A.The importance of real-time data transmission. |
B.The tough environment of Mount Qomolangma. |
C.The difficulty of monitoring weather conditions. |
D.The challenging task of the scientific expedition. |
14. Why was the weather station built at 8800 meters instead of 8848 meters?
A.To reduce the effect of strong winds. |
B.To keep away from tough bedrocks. |
C.To fix equipment more conveniently. |
D.To predict the weather more accurately. |
15. What does Kang Shichang intend to tell us about the glacier?
A.Its characteristics. | B.Its value of research. |
C.Its formation process. | D.Its impact on climate change. |