Insights from the Highest Weather Stations in the World with Baker Perry

Join us for an evening with Dr. Baker Perry where he will share insights and operational challenges from new weather station networks sponsored by National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Expeditions to Mount Everest in the Nepal Himalaya, tropical Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia, and the Central Andes of Argentina and Chile. These mountain regions serve as critical water towers that sustain over one billion people downstream but can also be the source of catastrophic flooding. Stunning photos and video clips from National Geographic will complement the story telling.

Biography

Dr. Baker Perry is a Professor of Climatology and the Nevada State Climatologist in the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, Reno and a National Geographic Explorer. He works at the highest elevations of the planet to understand the critical water towers that sustain over a billion people downstream. Perry led the expeditions that installed the highest altitude weather station network in the world on the south side of Mount Everest in Nepal. He and his colleagues have published many scientific papers on the network, including being featured on the front cover of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in 2019 and 2022 (the latter broke the news of the summit station). Dr. Perry also has worked extensively at the highest reaches of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru, where he and his teams have investigated cryosphere changes and associated impacts on water resources.

Explorer Experience

Dr. Perry has over 30 years of alpine mountaineering experience that includes multiple ascents to over 26,000 ft on Mount Everest in Nepal Himalaya and over 21,000 ft in the Andes as part of scientific research expeditions. He has spent extensive time working on glaciers above 16,000 ft – over six months in total, including almost six weeks above 20,000 ft.

Scientific Credentials

Since receiving his Ph.D. in 2006, Dr. Perry has published 47 research papers that have been cited over 1,000 times. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, and the American Association of Geographers.