This photo shows Central Rongbuk glacier at the foot of Mount Qomolangma, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
MOUNT QOMOLANGMA BASE CAMP, Tibet — A Chinese expedition team reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma on Tuesday, as they look to carry out scientific research on the world's highest peak.
The expeditionists departed the assault camp at an altitude of 8,300 meters at 3 am Tuesday and arrived at the 8,830-meter weather station — the highest of its kind in the world — after eight hours of arduous climbing.
After affixing steel ropes, replacing batteries and installing wind speed and direction sensors, they completed the upgrades to the weather station.
READ MORE: China launches scientific expedition to Mt Qomolangma
They then climbed to the summit of 8,848.86 meters to collect ice and snow samples, which will be used for the research of air pollutants, especially new pollutants.
The 2023 Mt. Qomolangma expedition is part of the second comprehensive scientific expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau initiated in 2017. Since the end of April, a total of 170 scientists have been conducting research on water, ecology and human activities around the Mt. Qomolangma region.