The reporter learned from the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition team that the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition team used the radar profile measurement method to measure the latest snow thickness on the top of Mount Everest as 9.5±1.2 meters. The dynamic changes of the lithosphere provide valuable reference data. Related results were recently published in the "Cryosphere".

As the leader of the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition team, Yao Tandong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and honorary director of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "This discovery not only reveals the thickness of the snow on the top of Mount Everest, but also provides a deeper understanding of the extremely high altitude. Elevational climate change opens up new directions."

Mount Everest is the top of the earth, and the thickness of the snow on its top directly affects its "naked height". As the global climate changes, the thickness of snow cover on the top of Mount Everest and its changes are of great scientific value for understanding the response of the cryosphere to climate change.

In the past 50 years, there have been many studies on the thickness of snow cover on the top of Mount Everest. However, due to problems such as measurement methods and methods, there are great uncertainties and disputes in the research data. From April to May 2022, the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition team carried out the "Peak Mission-Comprehensive Scientific Investigation and Research in Extremely High Altitude Areas of Mount Everest". Structural measurements. The scientific expedition team used the 1000 MHz integrated ice and snow thickness measuring radar to start measuring along the exposed bedrock at the top of Mount Everest, and gradually measured to the top of Mount Everest.

Yang Wei, direct director of the radar thickness measurement project at the summit of Mt. , which is easy to interpret the data in the later stage.”

The radar measurement results show that the thickness of the snow on the top of Mount Everest is much higher than previously reported results. In May 2022, the thickness of the snow on the top of Mount Everest is 9.5±1.2 meters.

Related paper information:

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2625-2023