Yulong Snow Mountain Cryosphere and Sustainable Development Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences丨Field Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences

This article was published in the Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Issue 3, 2024 "Field Stations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences"

Northwest Institute of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Founded in 2006, the Yulong Snow Mountain Cryosphere and Sustainable Development Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the "Yulong Snow Mountain Station") is the first national field station in mainland China with marine glaciers and environment as the observation and research object, and the supporting unit is the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Yulong Snow Mountain Station is located in Baisha Town, Yulong Naxi Autonomous County, Lijiang City, Yunnan Province (27°1′17.25" N, 100°14′6.08" E, 2600 m above sea level) on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which entered the surface process and environmental observation and research network of the alpine region of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013, was approved as an academy-level station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019, and entered the national field scientific observation and research station sequence of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2021. Yulong Snow Mountain Station is a typical representative of marine glacier monitoring in China and even the world, and is an important field support platform and research base for scientific research on the continental cryosphere and collaborative research on cryosphere and sustainable development.

1 Research Objectives and Positioning

Research Objectives: Aiming at the key scientific issues of cryosphere and sustainable development, based on the Yulong Snow Mountain, the most representative area of marine glaciers in the world, and radiating the oceanic glacier areas of China, through long-term positioning and monitoring, the process and mechanism of cryospheric changes are deeply revealed, the hydrological, ecological and climatic effects of cryospheric changes and their comprehensive impacts are systematically evaluated, and the optimization of cryospheric service structure and cryospheric disaster prevention and mitigation plans are proposed, so as to provide scientific and technological support for regional sustainable development.

Study orientation. In the future, Yulong Snow Mountain Station will be built into a cryosphere scientific research base, a cryosphere service and cryosphere disaster prevention and mitigation scientific and technological achievements transformation base, a scientific research demonstration base combining basic research and social application services, and a talent training base integrating science popularization, environmental education, teaching practice and internship The path transformation provides scientific and technological support, so that the Yulong Snow Mountain Station can reach the international parallel level in long-term cryosphere and sustainable development research and solving major national needs.

Main research directions:

1. The process and mechanism of cryospheric change. Long-term monitoring and comparative study of cryospheric changes, and the law and mechanism of cryospheric change process.

2. Environmental effects of cryospheric changes and their impacts. Cryospheric hydrological processes and their water resource effects, climatic effects of cryospheric changes and their impacts on ecosystems.

3. The cryosphere and regional sustainable development. Optimization of the service function and structure of the cryosphere, disaster risk and disaster prevention and mitigation of the cryosphere, cryosphere and regional sustainable development.

2 Research Achievements and Scientific Contributions

Over the past 20 years since its establishment, Yulong Snow Mountain Station has built an important scientific research platform and achieved original basic research results, mainly including:

1. The "one station and four areas" (Yulong Snow Mountain Station, Meili Snow Mountain, Gangrigab, Gongga Snow Mountain and Dagu Snow Mountain Research Area) space observation network system of Yulong Snow Mountain Station has been built to improve the collaborative observation capability;

2. Based on long-term positioning observations, the mass balance dataset of oceanic glaciers closest to the equator and the longest time series in Eurasia was established, and the mass balance of the Baishuihe No. 1 positioning monitoring glacier and the global reference glacier was compared and studied.

3. The hydrological, bacterial, microbial and climatic and environmental effects of oceanic glacial changes were revealed, the recharge effect of ice and snow meltwater on surface runoff and groundwater was clarified, the differences in bacterial community structure and their influencing factors in the glacier retreat area were analyzed, and the climatic effects of glacial light-absorbing impurities were evaluated.

4. Effectively serve major social needs such as the optimal allocation of regional water resources, the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism, and the prevention and mitigation of the cryosphere. The research results have had an important impact at home and abroad, greatly promoting the formation and development of cryospheric chemistry, cryospheric microbiology, cryospheric disaster science and other disciplines, and effectively serving the sustainable development of the region.

The researchers of Yulong Snow Mountain Station have published more than 1,000 research papers in important journals at home and abroad, published 15 monographs, participated in the compilation of more than 30 books, authorized 10 invention patents, 12 software copyrights, and submitted more than 20 decision-making consulting suggestions or reports. From 2021 to 2022, Yulong Snow Mountain Station won a number of awards, including: "Cryospheric Science", edited by Academician Qin Dahe, Director of the Academic Committee of Yulong Snow Mountain Station and co-edited by Yulong Snow Mountain Station, won the special prize of National Excellent Textbook (Higher Education), the cryospheric scientific research collective led by Qin Dahe and participated in Yulong Snow Mountain Station won the Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievement Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the research results of cryospheric chemistry and cryospheric microorganisms won the first prize of Gansu Natural Science Award and the first prize of Gansu Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.

3. Talent training and team building

The Yulong Snow Mountain Station has formed a scientific research team and a stable monitoring force for cryosphere field scientific observation and research. At present, there are 23 long-term staff members on site, including 17 researchers and 6 observation, technical and managerial personnel. Yulong Snow Mountain Station is full of outstanding talents, including 1 winner of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Youth Fund and 3 members of the Youth Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition, 15 visiting researchers have been hired, including 2 foreign experts.

Since the establishment of the station, Yulong Snow Mountain Station has trained more than 120 masters, doctors and postdoctoral fellows. At present, there are 20 graduate students in the station, and 5 of them have won national scholarships. Every year, more than 100 graduate students come to the station to carry out experimental research.

4. Scientific research capabilities and technology platforms

There are more than 20 conference rooms, offices, instrument rooms, laboratories, expert apartments, and dormitories for students and researchers in the Yulong Snow Mountain Station area. There are more than 60 sets of instruments and equipment, with a total value of about 12 million yuan. Long-term field monitoring sample plots and experimental platforms have been built, and a spatial observation network system of "one station and four areas" (Yulong Snow Mountain Station, Meili Snow Mountain, Gangrigab, Gongga Snow Mountain and Dagu Snow Mountain Research Area) has been built, with a total area of 30 km2 of long-term field observation sample plots, including 7 meteorological observation sites with different altitude gradients, 3 glacier observation sites, and 4 ice and snow runoff observation points, and an indoor testing and analysis platform of 300 m2. Ice temperature and other modules), real-time data information such as glacial material ablation, accumulation and ice flow velocity were obtained, and the continuity, accuracy and online visualization of data collection and data transmission were realized, and a global cryosphere and sustainable development data visualization platform was built, which realized the visualization of video and data of meteorology, glacier and runoff monitoring stations of Yulong Snow Mountain Station, as well as offline data.

5 Openness and Communication

With a high level of internationalization and extensive international exchanges and cooperation, Yulong Snow Mountain Station is a well-known collaborative research base for cryosphere and sustainable development and a platform for scientific and technological cooperation and exchange at home and abroad. Every year, more than 10 scientific research institutions come to the station to carry out cooperative research, and more than 1,000 visitors come to the station. In the past 10 years, it has received more than 500 summer internships and summer camps for college students, and provided science popularization services for about 20,000 scenic spot managers, tourists and primary and secondary school students. It has hosted 3 international conferences on cryosphere research and more than 10 domestic conferences. Since the establishment of the station, more than 200 scientists from the United States, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, India, Japan, Russia, Norway, Sweden and other countries have successively carried out cooperative research and scientific investigation at Yulong Snow Mountain Station. Yulong Snow Mountain Station has also established long-term and substantive scientific research cooperation with many institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, Yunnan University, Wuhan University, China Antarctic Surveying and Mapping Research Center (Wuhan University), China Polar Research Center, Tongji University, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, National Climate Center, Lanzhou University, Nanjing University and other scientific research institutions and universities.

Article from: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Cryosphere and Sustainable Development Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Yulong Snow Mountain, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2024, 39(3): 579-581.

doi:10.16418/j.is.1000-3045.20240222001