Balloon Makes Water-vapor Observation at Record Altitude in Tibet

The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) project in the town Lulangin of Tibet’s Linzhi City carried out water vapor observations on January 22, 2019, using a tethered balloon (Jimu-1), developed by the CAS Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR). The exploration team, which was made up of more than 40 scientists from CAS Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP) and AIR, were working to make 3-D observations of the water-pour sources in the Tibetan Plateau. The team was successful in making water vapor observation at a height of more than 6,200 meters above sea level. This is the first time that such a task has been achieved at this altitude.
According to Prof. YAO Tandong, a Member of CAS and chief scientist of the project, the “third pole” with the Tibetan Plateau as its core is known as Asia’s water tower and is the origin point of a dozen major rivers in the continent including the Huanghe River, the Yangtze River, the Ganges River, the Mekong River and the Indus.
It is expected that similar observation will be made at Mount Everest area in the future, meaning that the Jimu-1 will reach the height of more than 10,000 meters, higher than the summit of the Mount Everest.