On May 19, 2013, ITP welcomed nearly 80 people from the public to learn science revolving around the Tibetan Plateau research. This was a themed activity entitled ‘Approaching the Tibetan Plateau” on the Public Science Day.

To welcome the guests, ITP scientists prepared numerous interesting topics to bring the remote Tibetan Plateau to the public. Among them, Prof. ZHU Liping presented a talk entitled the Mystical Tibetan Plateau, where he introduced the mountains and valleys, glaciers and permafrost, lakes and rivers, climate and landscape, and biodiversity of the Tibetan Plateau to the public. Followed was a report entitled Scientific Expedition to Hol Xil by Prof. DING Lin. Prof. Ding covered various scientific expeditions held so far to the no-man’s zone of the Hol Xil, elaborating on the activities and scientific significance of those expeditions. He then showed the newly completed 3-dimentional cartoon movie featuring the Tibetan Plateau formation and its influence on natural resources and environment in the region.

Visiting public were greatly intrigued by those talks. Questions and answers were frequent during the presentation session. The public were also connected through the webcam system with staff at several field stations on the Tibetan Plateau, including the NAMORS, QOMORS and SETORS. During the webcam connection, they were introduced to in situ observation and monitoring items on the Plateau, as well as the routine work at those stations.

Science popularization at ITP intends to bridge the distance between science and the public. Such activity is conducive to the science popularization, and encouraging the public to approach science, to know more about the academic research, and thus to support scientific development and get actively involved in the environmental protection in their daily life.