The Tibetan Plateau as the engine for Asian environmental change:the Tibetan Plateau Earth system research into a new era

• 作者: Fahu Chen Lin Ding Shilong Piao Tianjun Zhou Baiqing Xu Tandong Yao Xin Li
• 来源期刊: 科学通报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（13）
• 所属期刊栏目: PERSPECTIVES
• 页码范围: 1263-1266
• 页数: 4页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

The Tibetan Plateau(TP),as the world's highest plateau,has almost all the key elements of the entire Earth system,including interconnected lithosphere,atmosphere,cryosphere,biosphere and anthroposphere[1-3].This completeness makes the TP an ideal natural laboratory for studying multispheric interactions within the Earth system,and for cultivating key breakthroughs in geoscience of the 21st century[2,3].As one of the most important geological events in the Cenozoic era[4,5],the tectonic uplift of TP dramatically changed the topography of South Asia and reshaped regional and global atmospheric circulations and climate[6],and led to cascading effects on the diversification and evolution of organisms and early human settlement[7].With current fast cli-mate change unfolding on the TP[3],its land surface multi-spheres are profoundly changing,providing significant feedbacks to the cli-mate system and impacting the living environment in Asia even over the globe[8,9].Furthermore,known as the Asian Water Tow-ers(AWTs)[10],the TP provides important ecosystem and cultural services to China and other Asian countries.Research of the TP has therefore attracted worldwide attention,with many scientists from both China and aboard involved in this exciting field over the past several decades.