Informative Newsletter March 2015 Third Pole Environment Dear Colleagues, We wish to first and foremost extend our gratitude to the participants, to the local organizing committee, to the Harnack Haus venue, and to all others involved in making the 5 th TPE Workshop in Berlin a huge success. We are excited to report in this newsletter the continued progress of TPE in 2014. TPE has further advanced international research involvement, expanded student training, and drawn the attention of the top environmental and geosciences journals. One of the major achievements this past year was the establishment of the TPE center in Kathmandu, Nepal. As a local office and base for mountain operations on the southern slope of the Himalayas, the new TPE center will be a strong asset for research scientists and support staff studying the local and regional environment. We have dedicated a full issue to the new TPE center, available online through the TPE website. We wish all our colleagues continued success in the coming year, and look forward to the progress of research in the highest mountain regions on Earth. Sincerely, Tandong Yao Lonnie G. Thompson Volker Mosbrugger TPE Contact Information: Address: Third Pole Environment (TPE) 16-3 Lincui Road Chaoyang District Beijing, 100101, China Phone:+86-10-8409 7124 Fax: +86-10-8409 7123 E-mail: [email protected]Web: http://www.tpe.ac.cn Group photo of participants at the 5 th TPE Workshop This issue: Letter from the Co-chairs…p.1 International News…p.2, 3 TPE session AGU meeting…p.2 TPE Training…p.3 Upcoming Events…p.4
Transcript
Informative Newsletter March 2015
Third Pole Environment
Dear Colleagues,
We wish to first and foremost extend our gratitude to the participants, to the local organizing committee, to the Harnack Haus venue, and to all others involved in making the 5th TPE Workshop in Berlin a huge success.
We are excited to report in this newsletter the continued progress of TPE in 2014. TPE has further advanced international research involvement, expanded student training, and drawn the attention of the top environmental and geosciences journals.
One of the major achievements this past year was the establishment of the TPE center in Kathmandu, Nepal. As a local office and base for mountain operations on the southern slope of the Himalayas, the new TPE center will be a strong asset for research scientists and support staff studying the local and regional environment. We have dedicated a full issue to the new TPE center, available online through the TPE website.
We wish all our colleagues continued success in the coming year, and look forward to the progress of research in the highest mountain regions on Earth.
Sincerely,
Tandong Yao Lonnie G. Thompson Volker Mosbrugger
TPE Contact Information:
Address: Third Pole Environment (TPE) 16-3 Lincui Road Chaoyang District Beijing, 100101, China Phone:+86-10-8409 7124 Fax: +86-10-8409 7123 E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.tpe.ac.cn
Group photo of participants at the 5th
TPE Workshop
This issue:
Letter from the Co-chairs…p.1 International News…p.2, 3
TPE session AGU meeting…p.2 TPE Training…p.3
Upcoming Events…p.4
International News
Scientists from 13 countries gather in Berlin for 5th TPE Workshop
Over 70 scientists from China, Germany, USA, Netherlands, Italy, U.K., Nepal, India, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland attended the 5th TPE Workshop, held in Berlin, Germany from December 8-9, 2014.
The workshop included presentation and discussion of the following 7 main topics: Interactions between the Third Pole and the Asian monsoon, Past climate and environmental changes, Status of the cryosphere, Status of rivers and lakes, Geoecosystems and anthropogenic activities, Impacts of recent climatic changes and adaptations to a changing Third Pole, Geodynamics and Geohazards. Each session included 5-7 speakers who introduced their latest research achievements or current developments.
The workshop forum invited participating scientists to discuss major challenges confronting Third Pole environmental research within the international academic community. Small group discussions during the final day of the workshop encouraged participants to discuss research themes within the context of broadening channels for cross-disciplinary and international collaborations. An expected outcome of the workshop is a peer-reviewed assessment book summarizing the current understanding of environment and geodynamics in the Third Pole region. At the conclusion of the workshop, TPE Co-chair, Prof. Lonnie Thompson suggested the next workshop be held in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
The 5th Third Pole Environment workshop was convened by the TPE co-Chairs, Prof. YAO Tandong, Lonnie G. Thompson and Volker Mosbrugger. It was jointly sponsored by the TPE program, the Sino-German Center and the DFG. For more information of the TPE workshop, including the workshop agenda and select presentations, please visit the website at www.tpe.ac.cn/wkshp5.
From December 15-19, 2014, the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program sponsored the session “Third Pole Environment under global changes” at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. This session received over 40 high-quality abstracts, and consisted of two oral presentation sessions and three poster sessions. Eleven scientists from China, U.S.A, Germany, and U.K. were invited to present results in the oral session. Topics included paleoclimate and environmental reconstructions from ice and lake sediment cores, glacial mass balance in the Third Pole region, the geology in East Asia and the study of present day environments. During the three TPE poster sessions, about 40 scientists shared their current research results and progress related to Third Pole studies. Participants were able to interact with the 20,000+ scientists attending the AGU Fall Meeting from all over the world. The meeting provided the opportunity to promote TPE and explore opportunities for further cooperation with international scientists.
TPE Co-chairs at the 5th
Workshop in Berlin.
Participants discuss high-elevation research at
the 5th
TPE Workshop.
TPE session held at AGU Fall Meeting 2014
TPE Science & Technology Training
August 12-30, 2014 – Beijing, China
With support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
and the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP-CAS), the
2014 TPE Science & Technology Training was held in Beijing
from the August 12-30, 2014. This year’s training included 19
participants from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz,
Myanmar, Russia and China. The science training course
emphasized various aspects of geology, geophysics and
environmental changes with a special focus on high
mountain regions of the Third Pole.
The format included seven lectures, two lab practical’s, two
field excursions, three visits to different institutions in the
related fields and one academic discussion seminar. After the
first week in Beijing, participants traveled to Qin Huangdao
for a three-day field excursion. The excursion provided
practical and fundamental knowledge for the academic
lectures related to Ar40/Ar39 dating method and Helix
analysis technique, electron probe micro analysis techniques,
seismology, U-Pb dating of zircon by LA-ICP-MS, ICPOES
technology and geologic applications, tectonics, and
hydrological modeling of glacier, river, and lake catchments
in the Tibetan Plateau.
TPE delegates attended UNESCO-IHP
meeting on water security
The eighth phase of the International Hydrological
Program (IHP) of UNESCO spans from 2014 to 2021.
To involve a broad range of stakeholders and
mobilize potential partners, the UNESCO-IHP
convened a meeting entitled “Addressing Water
Security: Climate Impacts and Adaptation
responses in Africa, Asia and the Americas” in Paris
during Feb. 9-10, 2015.
Profs. YAO Tandong and ZHANG Fan attended the
meeting. On Feb. 11, TPE delegates and Prof.
Siegfried Demuth, chief of the Hydrological
Processes and Climate Section of IHP, had
discussions on the latest progress in the research of
water and climate changes on the Tibetan Plateau.
They also agreed that ITP and IHP would jointly
publish the Assessment of Climate and Water
Changes under Global Warming on the Tibetan
Plateau.
Prof. Yao at the meeting
TPE Science & Technology Training opening ceremony.
Training participants in laboratory protocol.
Participants of the 2014 TPE Science & Technology Training
European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2015
TPE will sponsor the session “HS6.2 The Third Pole Environment - Observation and modeling of hydrometeorological processes in high elevation areas” at the 2015 EGU General Assembly. The meeting will be held in Vienna, Austria, from 12-17 April 2015, and convened by Yaoming Ma, Hans-Werner Jacobi , Antonello Provenzale , Wim J. Timmermans and Fan Zhang. More information, including the full session description, can be found online at : http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/session/17258.
TPE would like to thank all of our sponsors, collaborators, and workshop attendees for
making 2014 a success for TPE and wish all of our colleagues
