NAMORS witnesses progress in international cooperation---- Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Nam Co Monitoring and Research Station for Multisphere Interations (NAMORS) has launched a number of international cooperation programs in the Nam Co region since April, 2009.

In particular, seven Chinese scientific staff worked together with six German collaborators on the Zhadang Glacier in the Nam Co lake catchment, in an effort to study glacial variation and monitor glacial meteorology. Financed by the TiP project in the study of ‘Dynamic response of Tibetan glaciers to climate change’ and ‘Assessment of water balance in the Nam Co lake catchment using remote sensing and GIS,’ both Chinese and German scientific staff succeeded in the first measurement of the Zhadang Glacial mass balance of the year. They also set up two more automatic meteorological stations to enhance the research level of glacial dynamics to climate change. In addition, scientific staff from both sides conducted simultaneous survey to lakes, wetland, and underground water in the Nam Co lake catchment, as well as in situ confirmation of remote sensing data, laying a foundation for hydrological modeling for regional water in the next phase.

The NAMORS also witnessed a Sino-US cooperation program, which focuses on ‘The study of influences of radical climate events on ecosystem and pasture fragility on the Tibetan Plateau’. This program asked for an experiment area covering 20,000 m2 with 64 biological quadrants for snowmaking or snow moving, in order to compare the influences of blizzard or pika on alpine meadow ecosystem. The joint research program will last five years, with Mar.-Oct. as the intensified observation period.