Prof. Dr. Thomas Foken, member of the editorial board of ‘Boundary-layer Meteorology’, and scientific staff at the Department of Micrometeorology, University of Bayreuth, Germany was invited by professors Kun Yang and Yaoming Ma of the TEL to give an academic report on July 10, 2009, to ITP staff. His presentation ‘ The Eddy-Covariance Method-Possibilities and Limitations’ emphasized on the importance of data quality and reported on such scientific frontier issues as data quality control, trace analysis, and unclosed ground energy observation. He also listened to several reports presented by young scientists at the ITP and proposed his ideas in concern. Both the Chinese and German scientists later exchanged views on future collaboration in field monitoring and talents cultivation, thus laying a foundation for further joint study in atmospheric physics.