Environment station at world's highest county in Tibet soon

China will soon build an environment monitoring station in the world's highest county of Shuanghu in Tibet at an elevation of 5,000 metres.

The construction of the station at Soggarluma, 2.5 km from the county government, would begin "in the near future", according to Yi Chaolu, a researcher with the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences leading the project.

With an average elevation of 5,000 metres, Shuanghu County is located in the hinterland of Tibet and has a large area of glaciers and lakes, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Yi as saying.

The station will collect information about weather, glaciers and pastures, the researcher said, adding that similar monitoring stations had been built on mountain land on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau but its 800,000-sq km hinterland lacks such facilities.
 

In addition, the station would benefit local husbandry as it can help research improving grass output and quality, Yi said.