|
XINING, Dec. 14-- Every time Wang Jianqiong goes to work, he arrives out of breath after climbing the 99 steps to his office. Wang works as a meteorological monitor at the China Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Baseline Observatory at Mount Waliguan in northwest China's Qinghai Province. Located 3,816 meters above sea level on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, it is the highest of the 31 GAW observatories in the world. The observatory so far has realized all-weather and high-density observation of more than 60 elements in 30 projects, including greenhouse gases, solar radiation, radioactive substances and precipitation, with more than 60,000 pieces of data collected every day. It has been sharing its data with international meteorological organizations since it was put into operation in 1994. "We need to walk slowly here to prevent fainting caused by altitude sickness," said Wang, after he and his partner unloaded food and necessities from their car. They take turns and change shifts every 10 days. Despite having worked at the station for years, altitude sickness is still a major challenge for the monitors who mainly live in the province's capital city of Xining, about 2,200 meters above sea level and 140 km away from the observatory. Some people can barely sleep in the first few days because of the lack of oxygen. However, the high-altitude station in harsh conditions is an ideal place for special observations. | 
