ID.58516: Monitoring and Modelling Climate Change in Water, Energy and Carbon Cycles in the Pan-Third Pole Environment (CLIMATE-Pan-TPE)

Climate Change

Summary

Executive Summary:The Third Pole Environment centred on the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas feeds AsiaÔÇÖs largest rivers which provide water to 1.5 billion people across ten countries. Due to its high elevation, TPE plays a significant role in global atmospheric circulation and is highly sensitive to climate change. Intensive exchanges of water and energy fluxes take place between the Asian monsoon, the plateau land surface (lakes, glaciers, snow and permafrost) and the plateau atmosphere at various temporal and spatial scales, but a fundamental understanding of the details of the coupling is lacking especially at the climate scale. Expanding westward from the Third Pole, the Pan-Third Pole region covers 20 million km2, encompassing the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, the Caucasians, the Carpathians, etc. and is home to over 3 billion people. Climate change is expected to dramatically impact the water and energy as well as carbon cycles and exchanges in the Pan-TPE area and consequently alter the water resources, food security, energy transition and ecosystems as well as other related societal challenges. Monitoring and modelling climate change in Pan-TPE reflect key societal issues and contribute to the science component to other international initiatives, e.g. UN sustainable development goals (SDG), GEO societal benefit areas and the ESA EO science for society strategy.Thus the objective of this CLIMATE-Pan-TPE project is: To improve the process understanding of the interactions between the Asian monsoon, the plateau surface (including its permafrost and lakes) and the Tibetan plateau atmosphere in terms of water, energy and carbon budgets; To assess and monitor changes in cryosphere and hydrosphere; and to model and predict climate change impacts on water resources and ecosystems in the Pan-Third Pole Environment. A core innovation of the CLIMATE-Pan-TPE project is to verify or falsify recent climate change hypotheses (e.g. links between plateau heating and monsoon circulation, snow cover and monsoon strength, soil moisture and timing of monsoon) and projections of the changes of glaciers and permafrost in relation to surface and tropospheric heating on the Tibetan plateau as precursors of monsoon pattern changes and glaciers retreat, and their impacts on water resources and ecosystems. Method: We will use earth observation, in-situ measurements and modelling to advance process understanding relevant to monsoon scale predictions, and improve and develop coupled regional scale observation and hydroclimatic models to explain different physical links and scenarios that cannot be observed directly.Deliverables: The deliverables will be scientific outputs in terms of peer reviewed journal publications, PhD theses and data sets in terms of novel data records and modelling tools of essential climate variables for quantification of water, energy and carbon cycle dynamics in the Pan-Third Pole Environment.Funding: The sub-projects described in the work packages will be performed by funded research projects by PhD and postdoc researchers of the participating partners.


Information

PI Europe
Prof.. Bob Su, Inst Geo Inform Science and Earth Obs., NETHERLANDS
Co-PIs Europe
Prof. Dr. Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, FRANCE
Dr. Christiaan van der Tol, University of Twente, NETHERLANDS
Dr. Rogier an der Velde, University of Twente, NETHERLANDS
Dr. Yijian Zeng, University of Twente, NETHERLANDS
Prof. Maria Jose Polo, University of Cordoba, SPAIN
Dr. Rafael Pimentel Leiva, Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research, University of Córdoba, SPAIN
Prof. Jose Sorbino, Universitat de Valencia, Global Change Unit, Departament de Termodinamica, SPAIN
Dr. Jian Peng, University of Oxford, UK
PI China
Prof.. Yaoming Ma, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP/CAS),, CHINA
Co-PIs China
Prof. Yunfei Fu, University of Science and Technology of China, School of Earth and Space Sciences, CHINA
Prof. Jun Wen, University of Chengdu, CHINA
Prof. Hui Qian, Chang’an University, Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of Ministry of Education, School of Water and Environment, CHINA
Prof. Weiqiang Ma, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA
Prof. Xiaohua Dong, China Three Gorges University, College of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Yichang 443002, China, E-mail: xhdong@ctgu.edu.cn, CHINA
Dr. Xin Wang, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CHINA
Dr. Yanbo He, China Meteorological Administration, National Meteorological Center, CHINA
Prof. Lei Zhong, University of Science and Technology of China, School of Earth and Space Sciences, CHINA