As China-US joint expedition to the Namunani Glacier, southwest of the Plateau, ended up with fruitful discoveries, it also marked the twentieth anniversary for China-US joint ice core study. Here are some of the backgrounds for such a long-term cooperation.

Ⅰbackground:

A. Ice core study developed from glaciology

     As ice core study developed from glaciology in the course of branching out of science with social advancement, people turned their attention from polar ice study to the Plateau. Situated in the mid-low altitude, the Plateau plays a more direct role to our environment and global change. Chinese scientists began their study of ice core on the Plateau as early as 1980s; since then, China got more involved in this field together with many other nations worldwide.

B.      Academic heads for both sides

In 1984, Chinese and American scientists joined hands, thus embarked on their twenty years’ cooperation.

For the Chinese side, Prof. Yao Tandong is the chief scientist. He, now director of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, is one of the earliest researchers engaged in ice core study on the Tibetan Plateau. Winner of miscellaneous awards and funds for Tibetan Plateau research, global change or environmental study, he has been invited to give report on his specified field by many nations, such as US, Norway, France, and Japan. With more than forty months on the Plateau in the past two decades, he is still striving for more achievements from their study.

Prof. Lonnie G. Thompson led his American team. American chief scientist and director of Byrd Research Lab in Ohio State University, Lonnie has been invited in 1994 by Vice President Al Gore to discuss issues about glaciers, ice cores, global change and ect. He is one of the earliest scientists to propose that global warming might be the cause for glacier shrinking. In 2002, he was elected by Times and CNN to be one of the most outstanding scientists in US. In the same year, he was awarded the prize of geology by Dutch Royal Association, together with other four nominees. He has taken part in more than thirty field expedition and got his theses published in Science many times.

ⅡCooperation leads to brighter future

A.      Equality and mutual benefit serves as the soled base for the cooperation

B.      Building international cooperation platform

C.      Yielding of research achievement by original scientific staff

ⅢEndless pursuing of more knowledge about the Plateau

The successful cooperation between Chinese and American scientists will be carried on by the young generation of scientific staff, who orient themselves on the Plateau, ready to engage themselves into researches there. After the 2004 expedition, Chinese side signed a new cooperation contract with its American counterpart, vowing to set up apparatus, educate students and produce scientific results together. They will also cooperate more in field platform construction, laboratory building and other scientific programs.

The Tibetan Plateau belongs to China; meanwhile, it serves the whole world. After the successful model of China-US cooperation, more international scientific cooperation will follow up, bringing Tibetan Plateau research to a higher level.