Chinese scientists have built a vertical climate observation system in a remote area of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, according to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau research institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Located in Medog County of Tibet, the system is capable of recording climate data with a total altitude span of about 3,400 meters (from approximately 800 to 4,300 meters above sea level) and an average altitude interval of about 300 meters.

The observation system is made up of 17 automated weather stations, including nine comprehensive stations, four weather stations and four more for observing microclimates in forests.

Zhang Lin, deputy director of the Medog Center of the CAS, said that the new system would lay a solid foundation for understanding the climate, ecology, hydrology, geological hazards and glaciers in the eastern Himalayas, under the influence of the Indian monsoon.

Medog and its surrounding areas boast a wide variety of natural phenomena for scientists to study. The region is also the main channel for water vapor incurred by the Indian monsoon to enter the Tibetan plateau.

However, due to frequent geological disasters, there has not been a complete vertical climate observation system in the region, hindering studies on major scientific issues such as the atmosphere, biodiversity, hydrology and glacial changes.

(Cover: Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. /VCG Photo)

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