Tupungato Weather Station

Scientists from National Geographic Society collaborated with Chile’s Ministry of Public Works for a trek to the top of Tupungato, a dormant volcano near the Chile-Argentina border. This was no pleasure stroll, however. Indeed, they battled major winter storms to install a weather station—the highest in the Southern and Western Hemispheres. Positioned here, at an altitude of over 6,500 meters (21,325 feet) in the southern Andes, the instruments will relay temperature, wind speed and snow depth data to help researchers understand the region’s historic drought and predict the future of its threatened mountain water supplies.