Monitoring K2 climate data in real time
31.07.2014
The highest climate monitoring station in the Baltoro area of Pakistan was installed near K2 Base Camp in July 2014, as part of the international monitoring project, Stations at High Altitude for Research on Environment (SHARE), promoted by the Ev-K2-CNR Committee. The station is higher than the three others in the area (Urdukas, Askole and Concordia) and another 17 stations around the world (Nepal, Uganda, Bolivia and Italy). It will provide meterological parameters, such as temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind direction, wind speed and global solar radiation, in real time.
The first temperature readings at K2 Base Camp fluctuated between -1 and 6.9 degrees C and the wind blew at 13 km per hour. It was relatively warm, the wind was strong and relative humidity low, between 27 and 75 percent.
The station was installed at 4 970 metres above sea level., directly on the glacier, near the tents where the climbers of the ‘K2 - 60 Years Later’ mountaineering expedition were planning their ascent of the K2 summit.
The station was designed and provided by CAE – an Italian leader in multi-hazard monitoring and early warning – and it has been produced with a modular structure which can be disassembled into parts in order to simplify the difficult transportation during the long trekking on the Baltoro Glacier. The station has been provided with four sensors: anemometer, thermoigrometer, barometer, albedometer- measuring wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, snow level and solar irradiation and it is able to transmit the data automatically and in real time to the researchers.
“To transport the station on Baltoro Glacier has not been easy, even if we used animals,” said Marcello Alborghetti, EvK2CNR researcher and technician. “We work hard and quickly with Madi, our Pakistani technician, to install the station and to calibrate all the sensors. The most difficult and complex aspect was the communication system and the real-time data connection”.
The Pakistanis and Italians at K2 Base Camp, coordinated by Marcello Alborghetti and Madi, worked together to reach this important scientific goal.
“This meteorological station at K2 Base Camp is the fourth SHARE station located in the Baltoro area – Elisa Vuillermoz, EvK2CNR scientific coordinator, said, adding that the data provided by this new station will add to the climatic data and information about Central Karakorum area. The monitoring of this peculiar area is also important for the understanding the anomalous Karakorum phenomena - stable or even small rise of the glaciers - which is different from the phenomena registered in other parts of the Himalayan region, where glaciers are regressing. Read more
Photo: Ev-K2-CNR/Matteo Zanga
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