The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau is the birthplace of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Yarlung Zangbo River and other major rivers in Asia. Under climate change, lakes, glaciers, snow cover and permafrost in the region have undergone significant changes. In order to comprehend the underlying surface, topography, and meteorological and hydrological characteristics of a river basin in changing environment, the "Ecological Hydrology and Water Resources Protection" team consisting of researchers from NHRI and Research Center for Climate Change of Ministry of Water Resources, China, together with research backbones from Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited of PowerChina, and Hohai University, carried out a scientific expedition on "Meteorology and Hydrology" to the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin from July 22 to 31, 2024.
The scope of this scientific expedition covered the main streams and tributaries in the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, focusing on typical wetlands, lakes, barrier lakes, experimental basins and important control hydrological stations in plateau rivers. The scientific expedition team had exchanges and discussions with Xizang Autonomous Region Meteorological Bureau, and Linzhi Hydrology and Water Resources Investigation Bureau. The team members used equipment such as radio wave flowmeter, water quality meter, rangefinder, soil environment measuring instrument, and soil sample collector to measure the water quality and soil moisture content of typical river sections, and collected nearly a hundred soil and water samples.
Through exchanges and field expedition, the team members systematically understood the hydrological regime and meteorological characteristics of the main streams and tributaries in the middle and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, and improved scientific understanding of the climate, glaciers, soil, vegetation, ecology, water projects, topography and geomorphology of typical basin in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, laying an important foundation for strengthening scientific experiments on water cycle in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and conducting research on the mechanism of runoff generation and concentration processes and model development in high-altitude and strongly heterogeneous basins.
The scientific expedition was jointly supported by the Second Comprehensive Scientific Expedition to the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Research Project "River Evolution and Impacts (Phase II)", the Innovation Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) "Climate Change and Water Security", and the Outstanding Youth Science Foundation Project of NSFC "Hydrological Processes and Water Security Adaptation in Changing Environment".
