Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 77 ›› Issue (7): 1586-1602.doi: 10.11821/dlxb202207002

• Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The scientific expedition and research activities on the Tibetan Plateau in 1949-2017

YAO Tandong(), WANG Weicai, AN Baosheng, PIAO Shilong, CHEN Fahu   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2022-03-24 Revised:2022-06-27 Online:2022-07-25 Published:2022-09-13
  • Supported by:
    The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research(2019QZKK0201)

Abstract:

The Tibetan Plateau (TP), also known as the roof of the world and the Asian Water Tower, is an important ecological security barrier for China. Since 1949, scientific expedition and research on the TP has always been a major scientific and technological task at the national strategic level. This paper reviewed the scientific expedition and research activities carried out by Chinese scientists on the TP from 1949 to 2017, before the initiation of the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP). These activities can be divided into four stages: (1) Regional and thematic scientific expedition and research carried out from the early 1950s to the late 1960s, which obtained important scientific data, laid the foundation for the large-scale expedition and research starting from the 1970s. (2) The first comprehensive scientific expedition and research on the TP during 1973-1992, which investigated the full range of TP covering an area of 2.6 million km2, collected a large number of first-hand scientific data, filled in the gaps in some areas and disciplines of the TP research, and had significant scientific and societal impacts. (3) Scientific question-oriented expedition and research from the early 1990s, promoted by national and international scientific projects, has achieved a milestone transformation from static to dynamic processes, from qualitative to quantitative analyses, and from single discipline to multi-disciplinary integration on TP research. (4) Since its founding in 2003, the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences has been leading multi-disciplinary research teams, and conducted institutionalization and group-oriented expedition and research in field observations, laboratory systems and international networks. At present, the STEP is being carried out and the reviewing of the fruitful achievements in the past will inspire the STEP team to be actively involved in the TP research.

Key words: Tibetan Plateau, scientific expedition and research, scientific expedition history, scientific achievements