After nearly two-month-work, the Sino-US joint expedition to Naimonanyi on southwest Tibetan Plateau returned to Beijing, harvest with ice cores. Among the drilled cores, three are respectively 113.65m, 137.77m and 158.04m in length. They would be conducive to the study of climate change on west Himalayas, scientists believed.

The Naimonanyi is located in the west of mid-Himalayas in Pulan, Ali. Over 7694 meters above sea level, the mountain peak first attracted a planned scientific expedition in 2004, which was also carried out jointly by these Chinese and American scientists. Thus it was identified as an ideal place for ice coring to study climate change, given its high elevation, relatively low latitudes and flattish geomorphology on the top.

The base camp was set up in a 4800m.a.s.l valley in Naimonanyi region on Sept. 10, 2006. Scientists then transported the ice coring equipment, life necessities and logistics to the required spots (6100m a.s.l) manually, though with some help of the Tibetan yaks when possible. Initiating on Sept. 31, 2006, scientists spent more than ten days to drill satisfactory ice cores, then another ten days to lorry the cores down to the base camp.

All the crew, 8 American or Russian scientists, and 24 Chinese scientists, arrived from the glacier to Lhasa safely on Oct. 26, 2006, despite various difficulties and high elevation. The ice cores have then been distributed evenly among scientists, each brought a proportion to the labs in their own countries, to study environmental change on the Plateau and its impact on the globe.