Telemar

Telemar, the service provider of Inmarsat's airtime distribution partner Vizada, provided two Thrane & Thrane Explorer 700 terminals to assist with the installation of the automatic weather station (AWS) on Mount Everest's South Col, at 8,000 metres (26,247ft) above sea level.

Video reports

BGAN played a key role sending email and video reports to enable an installation team from Telamar's customer, Mountain Equipe, to build the AWS for the Italian climate research organisation Ev-K2-CNR Committee, a non-profit making body that promotes science and sustainable development in mountain areas.

The South Col data is transmitted by radio to an atmospheric monitoring station at 5,079 m (16,663 ft.).

From there it is sent to a computer in the Ev-K2-CNR's Pyramid Laboratory-Observatory at 5,050 metres (16,568ft) located at the base of Everest in Nepal.

Data is downloaded at hourly intervals and transmitted to Ev-K2-CNR headquarters in Bergamo, Italy, for examination and also streamed 'live' on the Ev-K2-CNR website and also the associated website of its Stations at High Altitude for Research on the Environment (SHARE) programme. The South Col AWS is being integrated into an environment monitoring network of SHARE.

High profile

Developed by the Italian manufacturer LSI-Lastem, the Everest AWS uses terrestrial radio signals to send frequent measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, ultraviolet radiation, wind speed and direction.

Telemar's land mobile applications manager Marco Imperatori, said: "Using our Audisoft Frontline Communicator application the equipment worked well at very high altitude and sub-zero temperatures.

"It took two months for a team of three Italian climbers and five Nepalese sherpas to complete the complex installation under the supervision of Ev-K2-CNR¿s technical director, instructing them from Italy."

The expedition was widely followed by the Italian media with video coverage sent via BGAN to the SHARE website, including a conversation between the team and Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, who sent them thanks and best wishes.