The Response of Environmental Changes on Tibetan Plateau to Global Changes and Adaptation Strategy

The environmental changes of Tibetan Plateau possess sensitive response and strong effect to global changes.The interaction between modern environment and land surface processes on the plateau induces a series of variations in the cryosphere,water resources and ecological system,which produce important influence on the human living circumstance and economic-society development on the plateau itself and periphery regions.As a region focused by international scientific research,the plateau experienced three developing stages.The first is focusing the systemic studies of the key problems in the key areas, the second is focusing the monitoring studies centered with surface processes,and the third is focusing the interactions among different spheres influenced by global changes.This project possesses very important significance to the study of environmental changes on Tibetan Plateau and the contribution for international scientific frontier as well as local economics-society development.In this project,a series of objectives are planned to be achieved: discovering key tectonic and environmental events from the plateau's formation to its present landform structures;reconstructing climatic and environmental sequences with different time scales in different areas and clarifying their space-time features;elucidating the variation characteristics of cryosphere,lakes,dominant ecosystems and land covers under different climatic conditions on the plateau;revealing the responses of the environmental changes and land surface processes of the plateau to global changes,and the effects of the plateau's thermo and dynamical processes to different climatic systems.Some methods and contents are performed in this project: By using geomorphologic and sedimentary methods,we study the formation processes of present landform and environment frames.By collecting lake cores,ice cores and tree rings,we study key events during the past environment changes and their linkages to global changes.By analyzing the space-time variations of glaciers,permafrost and snow accumulations together with observation of boundary layers,we study the variations of cryosphere and cycling processes of energy and water.By monitoring the glaciers,lakes and atmosphere together with using climatic models,we study the potential mechanism of environmental changes.By detecting the variations of carbon sources and sinks in the dominant ecosystems,we study the response of the main ecosystem to environmental changes. By a series of integrated analyses,we study the effects of the environmental changes and water sources changes on the Tibetan Plateau and adaptation strategies under global changes.