What is the significance of retesting Everest?

The significance of re-evaluating Mount Everest

Mount Everest is the highest peak in our country and the highest peak in the world. In March 2005, China decided to organize a mountaineering team to climb Mount Everest again, conduct a comprehensive scientific investigation of the Mount Everest area, and at the same time re-accurately measure the height of Mount Everest.

Historically, in 1975, the Chinese mountaineering team successfully climbed Mount Everest from the north slope for the second time. For the first time, the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China accurately measured and approved the height of Mount Everest, which was announced by the State Council as 8848.13 meters. It is internationally recognized as the height of Mount Everest. has been widely recognized.

Since then, in the past 30 years, the elevation of Mount Everest and the environment of the surrounding areas have undergone major changes. Climbing Mount Everest again, conducting comprehensive scientific surveys of the Mount Everest area and re-accurately measuring the altitude of Mount Everest, It is of great significance.

On April 1, 2005, all expedition members arrived at the Everest Base Camp. There are 9 female team members participating in this mountaineering activity, including 4 Chinese Tibetan team members, 1 Chinese Taiwanese team member and 4 Japanese team members. Among them, 4 Chinese Tibetan female team members have successfully climbed to the top of Mount Everest. This climb to Mount Everest is also the strongest time for a woman to climb the world's highest peak. The peaking time is initially scheduled for early to mid-May.

Good things come hard

Due to the unpredictable weather, the date of the most important summit summit operation in the Everest measurement operation has been pushed back again and again, from around May 5th to around May 10th. It was postponed to around the 15th, then to around the 18th, and finally to after the 20th.

"In May, the wind and snow in the Mount Everest area are still so dense, which has rarely been seen in recent years." A mountaineering expert told reporters, "It may be a coincidence, now is the leap month of June in the Tibetan calendar , According to Tibetan tradition, this month is full of disasters."

According to this sentence, the process of climbing to the summit was indeed not smooth. In the Everest region, south wind and north wind are the two most powerful forces at odds with each other. The south wind overwhelms the north wind, which is not conducive to mountaineering; on the contrary, it is conducive to mountaineering. Generally speaking, in May every year, there will always be a few days when the north wind will completely overwhelm the south wind. At this time, the good weather in the hearts of climbers will arrive, so everyone is waiting.

According to the weather forecast, the good weather period should arrive between the 15th and 20th, which will be the best time to summit. After many postponements, the summit team members finally went to the advance camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters in batches on the 11th and 12th of this month to launch the final summit operation. However, after the team members arrived at the advance camp, the good weather cycle did not start as expected, and the wind was still strong. The weather conditions change day by day. Judging from the news from the meteorological department and the analysis of satellite cloud images, during the originally expected first period of good weather from the 15th to the 20th, there was a snowfall accompanied by strong winds. In this way, the possibility of reaching the summit before May 20 is almost non-existent.

The summit measurement requires 3 to 5 consecutive days of good weather. Weather forecasts are mainly obtained from two sources, one is the weather data released by the National Meteorological Administration and the Tibet Meteorological Bureau; the other is the satellite cloud images received by foreign mountaineering teams from foreign meteorological satellites. Combining the data and images from these two aspects, it is generally only possible to predict weather changes within the next two or three days more accurately.

If a good weather cycle comes, the process of climbing to the summit is generally as follows: on the first day, climb from the camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters to the North Col camp at an altitude of 7,028 meters, on the second day to the camp at an altitude of 7,790 meters, and on the third day to the assault camp at 8,300 meters. On the fourth day, they ascended to the summit and descended to the 8,300-meter or 7,790-meter camp. On the fifth day, they descended to the 7,028-meter or 6,500-meter camp. On the sixth day, they descended to the 6,500-meter advance camp or the 5,200-meter base camp. If the weather conditions are not good when the team members arrive at the 8,300-meter camp, the team members will wait there for an opportunity, but they can only wait for up to 4 days. At the camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters, no one can sleep due to severe hypoxia, and the summit team members will sit in a circle in the tent. If good weather arrives, the team members will set off at 3 a.m. at night, reach the peak at around 10 a.m., conduct a measurement mission at the peak for about an hour, and then return to the camp before dark. If you cannot reach the peak on time, you must descend halfway, otherwise you will suffer frostbite when night comes, which can be life-threatening in severe cases.

A twists and turns in the summit

In the early morning of May 22, the members of the Everest mountaineering survey team who were waiting at the assault camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters were about to reach the summit. But on the afternoon of the previous day, Mount Everest, which was originally clear and clear, was shrouded in dark clouds. At 1 o'clock in the morning, it was time for the summit team to set off as planned. At this moment, Mount Everest is looming in the night. There are few stars in the night sky, bright moon, clear clouds and clear wind. It seems to be a good weather for mountain climbing.

But at this time, news about the camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters came from the walkie-talkie. Because the wind was too strong, the road could not be seen clearly, so we had to postpone our departure.

Unexpectedly, this wait lasted for several hours.

At 2 a.m., scientists launched a radio weather sounding balloon to learn about the weather data on the peak. Judging from the data obtained, the meteorological conditions at the peak were not ideal at this time. The wind speed was 22 meters per second, about level 10, and the temperature was minus 32°C. According to this weather situation, we can only continue to wait for the weather to improve.

It wasn’t until 3:30 in the morning that news came from the camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters: the wind had calmed down a bit and the road could be seen clearly. So, the first batch of summit team members, led by captain Xiao Jiabu, set off against the strong wind and moonlight.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the summit team members had been climbing for more than 4 hours, and the people at the bottom of the mountain had also been anxious for more than 4 hours. As the sky brightened, people at the foot of the mountain had already set up high-powered telescopes and theodolite, and closely followed the summit team members through the lens.

In order to continue to understand the meteorological conditions at the peak, scientists launched the balloon again, but the data was still not ideal: the wind speed was 19 meters per second, almost level 9, and the temperature was minus 31°C.

At this time, the commandos were still climbing up hard in the strong wind. At 8:40 in the morning, looking through the telescope, the team members had gathered at the "second step". The "second step" is the most difficult section on the way to the top. It is a ladder that goes straight up and down.

For a whole hour, the people at the foot of the mountain were worried. At 9:40, the black spot in the telescope finally jumped forward. "We've passed the second step!" The people at the bottom of the mountain were jubilant.

In a telescope, a small black dot moves very slowly.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the sun shines on the earth, the sky is blue, and there is no cloud in the sky. The nervous people at the base camp suddenly discovered that today’s weather was exceptionally good. Mount Everest in front of me is extremely clear. The scientists released the balloon for the third time, and the data turned out to be much better: the wind speed had dropped to 15 meters per second, about level 7.

The small black spot in the telescope is gradually approaching the peak, and people in the base camp are waiting silently. At 11:08, the voice from the summit finally came from the walkie-talkie at the base camp: "I am Jiabu, I am Jiabu, we have reached the summit, we have reached the summit..."

Under the mountain A burst of warm cheers immediately erupted from the crowd. More than 40 minutes later, at 11:50 a.m., the red metal target was finally erected on the top of the earth, and the six rendezvous measurement points found the target almost simultaneously. Cheers immediately resounded throughout the valley, and the base camp became a sea of ??joy.

The most accurate determination

In this scientific expedition, researchers found that because the east-west tensile force offsets the uplift force of the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas will no longer grow Too much, roughly close to its peak. If the current situation remains, the Himalayas may continue to decline in a few million years.

On October 9, 2005, China’s National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping announced that the rock surface elevation of the summit of Mount Everest is 8844.43 meters. The parameters are: the measurement accuracy of the rock surface elevation of the summit of Mount Everest is ±0.21 meters; The depth of ice and snow is 3.50 meters. This data is the most accurate and authoritative data on Mount Everest so far.

From 1847 to 2005, people from all over the world have verified the height of Mount Everest 10 times, and the results have proven to be more accurate each time. What's more, accurately measuring Mount Everest also has great scientific and practical significance. By measuring Mount Everest every 10 years and measuring it to the centimeter level, we can predict the relationship between geomagnetic polarity reversal and the rise and fall of Mount Everest. If the height of Mount Everest continues to decrease, it may mean that the reversal of geomagnetic polarity is imminent, and many motion laws of the earth system will be destroyed, which also heralds the coming of catastrophic environmental and climate disasters on our planet.