The International Workshop on Land Surface Multi-spheres Processes of Tibetan Plateau was successfully held in Xining, China in August 8-10, 2016. This workshop is designed to report latest progresses of Tibetan Plateau research, exchange new ideas of comprehensive observations, datasets and multi-spheres modeling over the Third Pole region, and to further  promote international collaboration in future. Featuring internationally renowned experts including TPE chair Prof. YAO Tandong, TPE co-chair Prof. Lonnie Thompson, TPE co-chair Prof. Volker Mosbrugger, Prof. CHEN Deliang, Prof. ZHANG Renhe, Prof. CUI Peng, Prof. Chen Fahu, Prof. XUE Yongkang etc., the workshop received over 200 scientists from China, the United States, Germany, Sweden, Netherland, Canada, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Bangladesh and Iran. There are 2 plenary, 9 parallel and 1 poster sessions in this workshop.

In the opening ceremony, Prof. YAO Tandong and Prof. XUE Yongkang introduced the significance of Tibetan Plateau researches and the development of the international programme of Third Pole Environment (TPE).  Eleven keynote speakers shared their insights about climate changes on the TP, glacier melt, land surface hydrological processes modeling, East Asian summer monsoon evolution, geobiodiversity, interactions between Tibetan Plateau land surface processes and Asian monsoon, effect of intraseasonal oscillation on the vortices moving off the Tibetan Plateau, large-scale atmospheric circulation and its influence on precipitation variability as well as disaster risk assessment and management on the two plenary sessions.

Nearly a hundred presentations were given on the 9 parallel sessions under following topics:1) Third Pole Environment; 2) Understanding atmospheric processes on the TP at regional and global scale; 3) Hydrological cycle and water resources; 4) Cryosphere change and hydrological response over TP; 5) Modeling atmospheric and land surface processes; 6) Aerosols over TP and their climatic impact; 7) Remote sensing of land surface processes over Third Pole; 8) Paleo-environment on the Third Pole; 9) Impact of climate change on ecosystems over TP. Each parallel session has sent a rapporteur to present discussion results in the final discussion, which then suggested future research directions accordingly.

This workshop is jointly organized by Third Pole Environment (TPE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences (CETES), The China Society on Tibetan Plateau (CSTP) etc., co-sponsored by Nanjing University, Chengdu University of Information Technology (CUIT), Chinese Academy of Meteorology Sciences (CAMS).

Prof. YAO Tandong giving welcome address

Workshop in session

Group photo