A New Integrated Observational System Over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

| 1492 SCIENTIFIC BACKGroUNd. Because it is the largest and highest plateau in the world, the Tibetan Plateau plays an important role in the global atmospheric energy and water cycles. The large water resource stored in this region and its downstream transports support nearly 40% of the world population, including China, India, and many Southeast and East Asian countries. The Tibetan Plateau accounts for nearly one-quarter of the total land area of China, but meteorological observational and operational stations are scarce over this vast land. This has contributed to the uncertainties in the prediction of high-impact weather over the plateau and regions downstream, and in the monitoring and diagnostics of global climate. In 1979, China carried out a field experiment to investigate the role of the Tibetan Plateau in the global atmospheric circulation. It was this experiment that provided, for the first time, a qualitative understanding of general aspects of Tibetan Plateau meteorology and its role in the Asian Monsoon. In 1998, Chinese and Japanese scientists jointly conducted the second atmospheric science experiment over the plateau, under the sponsorship of GAME/ Tibet, TiPEX, and CAMP/Tibet (these various components of the experiment were summarized in detail by Ma et al. in the companion to this article in this issue of BAMS). Significant progress was made during these experiments. Improved descriptions of the Tibetan Plateau’s land–atmospheric interaction and various hydrometeorological processes have been studied quantitatively using more sophisticated datasets and modeling tools. These research activities and field experiments are now being extended into a new phase: the Tibetan Observation and Research Platform (TORP), also discussed in the companion paper by Ma et al. With the understanding of the Tibetan Plateau’s importance in the regional and global atmospheric circulations gained from these field experiments, it is highly desirable to establish a set of more permanent and operational observing networks. Consequently, a New Integrated Observational System over the Tibetan Plateau (NIOST), supported by the Chinese–Japanese joint AFFILIATIoNS: Xu, r. zhang, shi, s. zhang, bian, Cheng, and ding—State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China; KoiKe— University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; lu—NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado; li—Tianjin Institute of Meteorological Science, Tianjin, China CorrESPoNdING AUThor: Chungu Lu, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, David Skaggs Research Center, GSD7, Boulder, CO 80305 E-mail: chungu.lu@noaa.gov