China launched a scientific expedition in Lhasa on Sunday to study the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, known as Asia’s “water tower”, with a target region encompassing “one glacier, two lakes and three rivers.”
The region is home to the Purog Kangri Glacier, the world’s largest glacier in the mid- and low-latitude regions, as well as the Siling and Namtso Lakes, the largest and second largest lakes in Xizang, respectively. It is also the birthplace of the Yangtze River, the Nujiang River and the Yarlung Zangbo River.
Over the past 20 years, the region’s climate and environment have undergone dramatic changes, including accelerated glacier retreat and rapid lake expansion. These transformations have affected the structure and function of the regional ecosystem, with significant implications for human survival and development.
This scientific expedition, based on an Earth system science perspective, will identify the characteristics of regional climatic and ecological changes, and reveal the mechanisms behind these changes.
It will also assess major functional changes in regional ecological safety barriers, and propose essential measures for ecological protection and restoration, as well as scientific recommendations for green development.
More than 400 researchers, led by renowned scientists such as Yao Tandong and Lonnie Thompson, will participate in the expedition.
They will be divided into six research teams, each with its own area of interest: changes and impacts on Asia’s “water tower”, ecosystems and carbon cycles, alpine environments and health, resource and energy perspectives, structural and environmental evolution, and pathways to green development.
