On August 31, 2018, the launch conference of the national key research and development program three-dimensional observation and remote sensing inversion of key parameters of global energy cycle and water cycle wassuccessfullyheld in Beijing. Zhang Feng, director of the high-tech center of the ministry of science and technology, and Zhu Fuyuan, director of the research institute of Tsinghua university, were present at the conference and gave suggestions and encouragement for the implementation and management of relevant projects. Twelve experts from the project expert consultation group, more than 30 key members of the project, as well as more than a dozen postdoctoral and postgraduate students attended the conference.

The feasibility study conference of the project implementation plan was held by the group leader Shi Jiancheng. Prof. Yang Kun, the project leader, firstly introduced the basic situation and implementation plan of the project. Then, the four project leaders respectively introduced the research objectives, research content and sub-task decomposition of each project. The second project leader Prof. Yong Bin, from Hohai University, introduced the implementation scheme of using multi-satellite remote sensing joint inversion of key parameters of terrestrial water cycle products. The third project leader Prof. Li Zhen, from remote sensing institute of Chinese academy of sciences, introduced the research method of satellite remote sensing products of snow and ice parameters and ocean salinity. Finally, based on the inversion of the first three topics, Prof. Yang Kun introduced the main ideas and technical schemes for improving hydrological and climate model simulation capacity of remote sensing products, as well as the foundation observation plan, product generation system and the preparation of the construction of data product management system of the project.

Members of the expert group questioned and discussed the overall project and the implementation plan of each topic one by one. The experts fully affirmed the necessity and scientific significance of the project and the implementation of various topics, and put forward many constructive opinions on the problems and solutions to be encountered in the process of project implementation. At the same time, it was expected that the project could make breakthroughs in methods and technologies, establish remote sensing products that could be used to improve hydrological and climate models, break through the bottleneck of using remote sensing data to improve models, and make contributions to the overall goal of the global change project. During the conference, the project team also had a heated discussion on the opinions put forward by experts, and further improved and refined the project implementation plan. The successful completion of the project launch conference had laid a good start for the smooth implementation of the project.