Topic: Multi-sphere Hydrological Processes on the Tibetan Plateau

Speaker: Wang Lei, the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

Time: 14: 30-15: 30, October 14, 2022 (Friday)

Live Streaming at Official Weibo of the Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University Tencent Conference (ID: 377-988-504)

Introduction to the Lecture:

The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the globe’s Third Pole, is where more than ten rivers in Asia start their courses. Against the backdrops of global warming, significant changes have been taking place in all spheres of the plateau (atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, etc.). Multi-spheric interaction makes it extremely complicated to simulate and predict the hydrological cycle and its evolution trend on the Tibetan Plateau. The following endeavors have been made in recent years, with a focus on the core problem of multi-spheric interaction on the Tibetan Plateau and its influence on hydrological processes: (1) Based on the theory of multi-spheric-surface mutual feed of alpine valleys, a multi-spheric hydrological monitoring network on the Tibetan Plateau has been constructed, and a method system suitable for remote sensing inversion of daily runoff of rivers on the Tibetan Plateau has been established, which provides information support for the understanding of water cycle evolution on the Tibetan Plateau. (2) Based on the theory of enthalpy, the method of estimating physical processes in the cryosphere, such as ice, snow and frozen soil, has been innovated, breaking through the instability of the traditional critical temperature method in estimating the ice-water phase change, and a multi-spherical hydrological model of the Tibetan Plateau has been established, which includes the description of coupled physical processes such as atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and pedosphere. (3) Combined with observation and modeling, the total runoff of rivers at the mouths of mountains on the Tibetan Plateau has been estimated. The changing characteristics and mechanism of river runoff in different climate-dominated areas of the Tibetan Plateau under the background of climate change have been systematically revealed. It has been found that the expansion mechanism of large lakes in endorheic basins of the Tibetan Plateau is still mainly driven by precipitation, supplemented by glacier melting, and that soil freezing and thawing has driven the recent lake expansion to some extent.

Profile of the Speaker:

Wang Lei is Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from Tsinghua University and his doctorate from Tokyo University. He has been granted the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Youth and rated as a top-notch young talent in the Ten Thousand Talents Program, and won such honors as the Tibetan Plateau Youth Science and Technology Award and the National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Workers. His main research direction is cryohydrology, and his research interests include multi-spheric hydrological processes (atmosphere-biosphere-cryosphere-hydrosphere-pedosphere) and climate change. He has published 90 SCI-indexed papers in authoritative journals such as BAMS (4), PNAS Nexus, RSE, ESSD, GRL (3), WRR (6), Science Bulletin (3), and Earth's Future. In the recent five years, he has published more than 50 SCI-indexed papers (being first/corresponding author for over 30 papers) and three monographs. His research results have been cited by IPCC reports and journals such as Science. At present, he is Associate Editor of Frontiers in Earth Science, a SCI-indexed journal, and member of the editorial board of Chinese core journals such as Journal of Ecology and Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering. He is also a director of the China Tibetan Plateau Research Association and the China Cryosphere Science Society.