The gigantic, remote Tibetan plateau is being flooded with sensors in an unprecedented attempt to understand its influence on climate - especially the Asian monsoons, which caused deadly flooding in India and Pakistan in September. The US$49-million Chinese effort could help to predict extreme weather - both in Asia and as far afield as North America - and give scientists a steer on how climate change affects these events. Sitting at an average height of around 4,000 metres above sea level, the plateau protrudes into the middle of the troposphere, where most weather events originate. As the biggest and highest plateau in the world, it disturbs this part of the atmosphere like no other structure on Earth. But there are little data on the impact that this has on climate.
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