PI: Yinsheng Zhang, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Period：2016-2019

Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China

The change of hydrology and water resource in Third Pole region is the hot research topic for the international community, especially in Upper Indus Basin (UIB), where has being recognized as “Pakistan water tower”. Taking UIB as target region, the proposed project is aim to investigate the interaction of westerly and summer monsoon in UIB and its impact on water resource. Collaborated by Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS) and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), meteorological-glacial-hydrological cross-border observational section will be established by combination of existed observation networks in both China and Pakistan of UIB region. Following cooperations are going to be carried out along the section in coming three years: 1) Stable isotope tracing technology will be used to monitor water vapor transfer process caused by westerly and summer monsoon, identify the water vapor source of precipitation process in the research area, and to explore the spatial and temporal pattern of the interaction between westerly and monsoon in typical westerly climatic zone. 2) The hydrological process of glacier/snow will be studied by intensive field observation and remote sensing technique to quantify the impact of glacier/snow change to the water cycle, illustrate hydro-climatological mechanism of Karakoram anomaly. 3) The contribution of glacier, snowmelt and precipitation change to water cycle of UIB will be quantified by research on water balance. 4) To understand the impact of climate change in cryosphere on water resource of Indus River, historical climate and glacier fluctuation will be reconstructed by tree ring, and the response of basin drainage will be simulated by hydrological model. The project is in coincidence with the strategy of Chinese One belt and One Road and the urgent demand of facilitating economic cooperation and development of two countries. All of the updated results are anticipated to provide scientific support for water resources utilization in Pakistan and construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridors (CPEC).