Explorers from the National Geographic Society have placed a weather station just below the summit of Nevado Ausangate in Peru at 6,349m, making it the highest weather station in the tropical Andes.
The installation is part of the 2022 National Geographic and Rolex Amazon Perpetual Planet Expedition, a two-year exploration of the Amazon River Basin spanning the Andes to the Atlantic.
The tropical high Andes of southern Peru contain essential water towers that support nature and human communities from the glacier margins to the Amazon basin. National Geographic explorers Baker Perry and Tom Matthews, supported by a local Peruvian Quechua team and female Bolivian climbing experts ‘the Cholitas Escaladoras’, worked together to climb Nevado Ausangate – the highest peak in southern Peru – to investigate important meteorological processes driving the climate and glacier behavior and to install a weather station near its peak.
Perry said, “Nevado Ausangate is one of the most critical mountains in the high Andes as it serves as the primary freshwater source for Andean and downstream ecosystems. It is essential that we use weather observations from the highest peaks in the world to better understand the impacts that climate change is having on local and global communities. The changes happening on Ausangate are especially important in understanding the fluctuations and adaptations of the entire Amazon River Watershed.”
The new weather station collects near-real-time meteorological data including temperature, precipitation, humidity, radiation and snow depth, all of which will aid local governments and the international scientific community in observing the impacts of climate change on critical water resources that affect local communities.
The expedition team also conducted in-situ monitoring of the atmosphere and analyzed snow-pack properties, obtaining direct measurements of snow water equivalent from the snowpack. As part of the snow assessment, the team collected samples to screen for microplastics in this remote region. If present, it would likely indicate long-distance atmospheric transport.
Local organizations and institutions including Universidad Nacional de San Antonio de Abad del Cusco (UNSAAC), Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (SENAMHI) del Perú and Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (Bolivia) were all partners in the expedition.
The Nevado Ausangate weather station complements the highest weather station installed in the southern and western hemispheres, near the summit of the Tupungato Volcano in Chile. The combination of the two stations provides critical data to study climate-glacier interactions in the accumulation zone and characterize the extreme climate at the highest elevations in the Andes.
This work builds on previous Perpetual Planet Expeditions to install weather stations in high mountain environments, including to Mount Logan in 2022 as well as to Mount Everest in 2019 and 2022, both of which were led by Perry and Matthews. Rolex supports these expeditions as part of its Perpetual Planet initiative.
- The weather station on Ausangate. Credit: Baker Perry/National Geographic
- Llamas carrying equipment toward the base camp. This land belongs to the community of Chillca. Credit: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya/National Geographic
- Team Bolivia: Laura (Master student) , Cecilia y Senovia (cholitas escaladoras). Getting equipment ready to sample the ice pit in the Ausangate summit. Credit: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry and Senobia Llusco climb towards Nevado Ausangate’s summit. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry at Nevado Ausangate base camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- The team works on the weather station at Ausangate. L to R: Tom Matthews, Sandro Arias, Baker Perry. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- The team poses in front of the weather station at Ausangate. L to R: Tom Matthews, Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, Heather Guy, Baker Perry. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- Local porters from the Ausangate Valley admire the view below Nevado Ausangate’s summit. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Tom Matthews climbs towards Nevado Ausangate’s summit. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry and Senobia Llusco climb towards Nevado Ausangate’s summit. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry above high camp on Nevado Ausangate, Peru. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- A view en-route to Nevado Ausangate high camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- The team makes their way to high camp on Ausangate. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- A view from below Nevado Ausangate high camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- Senobia Llusco climbing to high camp on Ausangate. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- Adrian Ccahuana and National Geographic Explorer Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya prepare to climb to high camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Thomas Peschak on the approach hike to high camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorer Baker Perry preparing for the climb from base camp to high camp on Ausangate. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- A view of Nevado Ausangate from base camp. Credit Justen Bruns/National Geographic
- National Geographic Explorers Thomas Peschack and Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya look at the route towards Nevado Ausangate. Credit: Justen Bruns/National Geographic