Climbing 700 meters with a 55° slope with solar panels, heavy batteries, and an IoT communication gateway strapped to our backs is not the usual picture of innovation and one wouldn’t think of AI in such context. However, this was exactly what it took to bring climate monitoring communication network to one of the most remote and high altitude places on Earth.
Recently, our team completed the installation of an IoT communication gateway near the Kara-Batkak (3360-4800 altitude) and Aylama glaciers in the Terskey-Alatoo mountain range. This system will connect affordable climate-related sensors at high altitudes — places where critical data is still missing not only in Kyrgyzstan or Third Pole, but globally.
Most foundational climate AI models today rely on assumptions to fill in gaps (cdf-mapping, bias-correction, etc), because the ground data from mountainous regions simply doesn’t exist. The cryosphere — glaciers, snow, and permafrost — remains under-observed, under-researched particularly in the world’s high mountain ranges. The Third Pole Regional Climate Center reported that in the entire Pan-Third Pole region, only 28 monitoring stations sat above 3000 meters out of nearly 700. These are exactly the altitudes where some of the most dramatic changes are taking place.
And the stakes are high. According to ICIMOD even in a world that warms by just 1.5 to 2°C, glaciers in the Third Pole could lose 30 to 50 percent of their volume by the end of this century. Without precise, high-resolution data, real-time data, AI models risk underestimating the hazards we face, from permafrost instability and glacier detachments to glacial lake outburst floods and snow droughts.
That is why Precision matters! Even down to the third-fourth decimal place, every data point helps improve forecasts, anticipate risks, and strengthen climate models that inform policy and adaptation strategies.
The summertime is high season for field works and installations far from the digital sphere in unconnected areas trying to connect the last-mile and secure supply of high precision data for scientists and local communities. For me, the climb was exhausting, but also deeply meaningful. Just like other teammates, I’ve suffered from pain, exhaustion, walking/falling through slippery meadows… Right there in altitude of 3000, looking into the downstream rivers, with spectacular views around, it was a reminder to me that innovation doesn’t only happen in labs, conference rooms, or algorithms. Sometimes it begins with sweat, altitude, and determination — carrying heavy equipment up a mountain so that the world can better understand what is at stake. And it was the second from 15 installations planned under the research project funded by the Internet Society Foundation and implemented by the Internet Society Kyrgyz Chapter along with partners.
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