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Pyramids on Mount Everest, in balance


Pyramids on Mount Everest, in balance

Standing on a hill with a pyramid of solar panels on top

Erratic funding flows have caused the “pyramid” monitoring station on Mount Everest to fall apart. This could be an opportunity to reimagine the purpose of the space station. photo: Rick McCharles

A few weeks ago, Pasang Yangjee Sherpa attended a screening of Ningwasum, an aboriginal sci-fi film that imagines a future in which the people of the Himalayas are central and empowered rather than marginalized.

But in this future-set story, she immediately recognizes something about her present and her past: Pyramid International Laboratory and ObservatoryCovered in solar panels and hidden among Himalayan rocks and snow, the pyramid is a decades-old atmospheric research facility that has become a sort of landmark for communities in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal. Sherpa included some history of the pyramids in his doctoral dissertation in 2012.

“The pyramids in that movie became the backdrop for imagining a sovereign indigenous future,” Sherpa, an assistant professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia, said in an interview with GlacierHub. “I think it [would be] A really interesting way of using the pyramids, people from the area imagining the future for themselves and themselves. “

But while the film imagines the pyramids of the future, scientists and international research organizations have been working hard to do the same.Once one of the region’s most renowned research centers for high-altitude science and climate monitoring sharply reduced For the better part of a decade, its output was just one employee keeping basic monitors running.

Built in 1990 as partnership Pyramid (also known as EV-K2-CNR), in partnership with the Italian National Research Council and the Nepal Institute of Science and Technology, has been capturing local weather data for decades. In addition, it is a center for air pollution monitoring and a base for biodiversity research and conservation efforts, as well as other long-term projects.

Despite the station’s location on the hill, Sherpas noted that local residents were not involved in its development or site selection; the first materials to arrive on the hill had little or no indigenous input, and potential community advice or support was drawn from the outset Set aside. Still, she said the pyramids were once a source of livelihood and propelled the few locals employed by the station to fame in the area.

“The people who get hired have a great source of income, but also get the kind of training they wouldn’t have easily gotten,” she explained. “So the experience they gained at Pyramid Station is now actually helping the community leverage that knowledge in higher community leadership roles.”

All in all, the researchers at Pyramid Station are involve Collaborated with 148 different institutions and more than 200 researchers on more than 500 scientific missions.Publish research outbound ranging from behavioral areas brown cloud arrive human immune system Response to high altitude exposure.But in 2014, the Italian National Research Council changed priorities and pull Most of its funding comes from pyramid schemes, shifting the burden of financial support onto its partners in Nepal, as well as private donors.

Miriam Jackson, Program Coordinator, Cryosphere Initiative International Center for Integrated Mountain Development GlacierHub, based in Kathmandu, told GlacierHub that this is a common pattern for high-altitude monitoring stations. “The initial cost of building a station is very small compared to the long-term commitment over the life of the station,” she explained. “Like everything else – you have to maintain it.”

Maintaining a balance between interest and research budgets is becoming increasingly challenging.

“It’s more exciting to put [a station] And worked on it for several years. But then to keep it going for a few more years, the excitement level goes down,” Jackson said. “If the government budget changes on the Italian side, once the budget goes down and you lose that funding, it’s very difficult to get it started again. “

Maintaining a high altitude weather station is no easy task. The nature of the terrain, as well as local infrastructure, means that moving equipment around the area can take several days and may require expensive transport such as helicopters. Heavy rain or landslides may further delay these journeys. Solar radiation at high altitudes can damage equipment faster and require more specialized materials. Plus, the work itself can be strenuous – especially at altitudes above 5,000 metres.

“Government departments have a lot of responsibilities, and they may not necessarily have enough people, or people with the right skills, to go around and do the work,” Jackson said. “They don’t have the resources that many other countries have.”

Some of the things that make these sites difficult to maintain are exactly what make their data so valuable—not just to scientists interested in climate change, but to residents concerned about its immediate effects.himalayan glacier supply drinking water For nearly 2 billion people, melting glaciers could lead to more floods in the downstream village.

Scott Williamson, Canadian cryosphere researcher, with Canadian polar knowledgeexplained in an interview with GlacierHub that monitoring stations like Pyramid are a window into how high-altitude glaciers will change.

“There are many places on our planet that are warming faster than average, and it turns out that high altitude is one of them,” he said. Elevation-related warming is one of the factors driving the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

These high-altitude and low-latitude glaciers are unique in that they fall within the range of the atmosphere where precipitation can occur. Before anthropogenic climate change, snowfall on these glaciers was relatively rare. However, as the planet warms, the atmosphere’s capacity to hold water vapor increases. This could lead to more snowfall on these glaciers and give them a way to recover mass from melting.

“So, we know we’re increasing both — we know we’re increasing precipitation, we know we’re increasing melt,” Williamson said. “The question for glacier health is: Who’s driving? Is it melting faster than precipitation is increasing?”

By tracking changes in atmospheric water vapor concentrations on Everest, Williamson explained that the Pyramid Station provides a baseline for understanding glacial precipitation-melt interactions.

Pasang Yangjee Sherpa pointed out that there may be many research questions that have not been answered over the years, and the pyramid can still contribute to answering these questions. She believes the local Indigenous community can be an important part of that possibility.

“Has anyone considered giving the pyramid as a gift to the local community that has cared for it and lived with it for many years since it was installed?” she asked. The Sherpas saw an opportunity to reimagine the space station as a place for more locally-driven investigation and research. She noted that local interests may vary, but some may align with existing economic livelihoods. This includes more specific weather forecasts for tourism, or a better understanding of rainfall patterns that can affect local crop yields.

“Now that we have this structure that Sherpas have been using for decades, what can we do with it to produce responsible science?” she said. “What would a new type of science that is creative, innovative and solve today’s real challenges look like? How does EV-K2-CNR enable us to do that?”

Partnerships with climate scientists and indigenous peoples have taken place on multiple continents, from weather forecasting to Tanzania Assessing ice loss Alaska Fire Management Practices Australia. This scientific collaboration has been proven benefit both sides.

Ultimately, the first few decades of Pyramid’s history tell the story of a pioneering station, the first of its kind – one that provided enormous value to the region and the world, but proved dependent on foreign funders goodwill. As it turns over a new chapter in its history, scientists and research institutions may recognize that closer to home — the indigenous Sherpa community — offers promising potential for new innovative purposes.




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