Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory (Lobuche, Khumbu Valley, Himalaya - Nepal)

The laboratory was installed and became operational in September 1990. Not only did the Pyramid soon become a fundamental scientific outpost for researchers and technicians, but it also grew to be known as a point of reference for local populations and tourists who could take advantage of the advanced telecommunications systems available there to send urgent messages to Kathmandu or abroad. The Pyramid International Laboratory - Observatory was officially inaugurated in October or 1990, by the Prime Minister of Nepal, a RONAST officer, the Italian Ambassador in Kathmandu, Agostino Da Polenza and the incredible Ardito Desio, who, at the age of 93, would not miss the historic occasion, making the trip personally to the Pyramid's 5,050 meters a.s.l. The facility is operated by the Ev-K2-CNR and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. Their partnership has given rise to 520 scientific missions with the participation of 220 researchers and 143 different international scientific institutions. The independent lodge is made in the style of Nepalese lodge architecture and can host up to 20 researchers, technicians and logistics staff. In the Khumbu Valley, in the area of Sagarmatha National Park, a network of 6 Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) has been installed over the past 10 years. The meteorological stations are located in Lukla (2,660 m a.s.l.), Namche (3,570 m a.s.l.) Pheriche (4,260 m a.s.l.) and Lobuche, near the Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory (5,050 m a.s.l.), where 3 stations have been implemented. The network takes hourly measurements of seven standard parameters: temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, global radiation, total precipitation. The Pyramid site is located at the foot of Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,050 m a.s.l. in a lateral valley (Lobuche Valley, North-South oriented) at the middle of Khumbu Glacier on the hydrological right.
 
Citation proposal
(2011) . Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory (Lobuche, Khumbu Valley, Himalaya - Nepal). https://geoportal.mountaingenius.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/1802972c-49fa-4ddc-9622-4b50b858d7fd
 

INSPIRE

Identification

File identifier
1802972c-49fa-4ddc-9622-4b50b858d7fd   XML
Hierarchy level
Series
Online resource
Protocol
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--partners
Protocol
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download
Protocol
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
Resource identifier
Metadata language
eng
Encoding
Projection
code
WGS 84 (EPSG:4326)
 

Classification of data and services

Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
  • Environment
  • Geoscientific information
 

Classification of data and services

Coupled resource
Coupled resource
 
 

Classification of data and services

Coupled resource
Coupled resource
 
 

Keywords

GEMET ( Theme )
  • thermal power plant
Other keywords
Keywords
  • SHARE , Network , Station , High Altitude
Keywords ( Place )
  • Nepal , Lobuche , Khumbu Valley , Sagarmatha National Park
Keywords ( Theme )
  • AWS
 
 

Geographic coverage

N
S
E
W


 

Temporal reference

Temporal extent
Temporal extent
Date ( Publication )
2011-03-30T17:51:00
 

Quality and validity

Lineage

The Pyramid station is equipped with sensors for measuring:

- Standard WMO Meteorological Variables;

-Flux and Soil Parameter.

The stations in Nepal and Pakistan are Reference Stations in the CEOP project under the WMO’s World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) – Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment (GEWEX) initiative. Ev-K2-CNR recently founded a special interest group called “CEOP-High Elevation” (CEOP-HE), which is dedicated to understanding multi-scale variability and change in hydrological and energy cycles in high elevation regions and studying their role within the climate system on a local and global scale.

The Pyramid AWS provides data (with a 60 minute time resolution) of the following parameters:

- station pressure (hPa)

- air temperature (°C)

- relative humidity (%)

- wind speed (m/s)

- wind direction (degree)

- global solar radiation (W/m2)

- total precipitation (mm)

Since 2004 this station has been measuring also the following parameters:

- snow depth (mm)

- incoming shortwave radiation (W/m2)

- outgoing shortwave radiation (W/m2)

- incoming longwave radiation (W/m2)

- outgoing longwave radiation (W/m2)

- soil heat flux (W/m2)

- soil temperature (°C)

- soil moisture (%)

 

Conformity

Conformity
Conformity
 

Conformity

Conformity
Conformity
 

Restrictions on access and use

Access constraints
 

Restrictions on access and use

 

Responsible organization (s)

Contact for the resource
Organisation name
Ev-K2-CNR
Email
evk2cnr@evk2cnr.org
 

Responsible organization (s)

Contact for the resource
Organisation name
Ev-K2-CNR
Email
evk2cnr@evk2cnr.org
 

Metadata information

Contact for the metadata
Organisation name
Ev-K2-CNR
Email
metadata@evk2cnr.org
Date stamp
2025-04-12T18:38:34
Metadata language
eng
Character set
UTF8
 
 

SDS

Conformance class 1: invocable

Access Point URL
Endpoint URL
Technical specification
 

Conformance class 2: interoperable

Coordinate reference system
 
Quality of Service
 
Access constraints
Limitation
 
Use constraints
Limitation
 
Responsible custodian
Contact for the resource
 
 

Conformance class 3: harmonized

 
 

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