A cooling apparatus and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. The cooling apparatus is adapted to cool a system in which a heat source generating heat is arranged. The cooling apparatus includes an air stream forming unit which cools the heat source to a certain temperature, a sensing unit which includes a supplied-air temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of air supplied into the system, and a discharged-air temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of air discharged out of the system, an altitude detecting unit which detects an altitude of the system, based on the sensed supplied-air temperature and the sensed discharged-air temperature, and a cooling controller which controls the air stream forming unit, based on the detected altitude.