DATE/TIME: Friday, October 27, 2023, 2:30 pm
Tandong Yao
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Asian Water Tower Under Global Warming
The Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding highlands, also called as the Third Pole or the Trans-Himalayas, is widely acknowledged as the Asian Water Tower. The Asian Water Tower is home to a vast number of glaciers, lakes, and the origin of over ten major Asian rivers, and water supplier to more than three billion people in the region. The Asian Water Tower is undergoing dramatic changes due to climate warming, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average. Warming-induced changes in glaciers, lakes, and runoff are leading to the imbalance of the Asian Water Tower, causing unprecedented ice-related risks, such as glacier collapses and glacial lake outburst floods. These changes impact socio-economic development and threaten the livelihood of over 2 billion people in the region. In this lecture, I will overview some facts about the Asian Water Tower and how a warming climate is affecting the Asian Water Tower as well as its impacts on societies based on scientific findings obtained through several major international research programs conducted in the region. Additionally, I will outline the scientific challenges to understanding the various processes and mechanisms of environmental changes and describe international collaborative research opportunities to find green solutions to adapt to climate change, to ensure the sustainability for future generations.
Seminar Host:
Alan Robock
Atmospheric Science Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University