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START Regional
Center for Temperate East Asia
Based
on the original Climate Research Laboratory of Institute of
Atmospheric Physics (IAP), START
Regional Center for Temperate East Asia (START TEA RC) was founded
as a research entity in 1995. The main research theme of START TEA
RC is the integrated research of global change and regional
responses. START TEA RC also undertakes the international
functions of International Global Change System for Analysis,
Research and Training (START)
and to carry on global change study and related training in East
Asia region.
To
understand the regulations and mechanisms
of regional environmental system changes, therefore to develop
predictive theories and methods, and to establish the scientific
bases for orderly human adaptation and
countermeasure,
the main research objectives of START TEA RC are:
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Research
of global and regional environmental changes regulations;
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Key
processes study of climate-terrestrial ecological system
interaction in Asia monsoon region;
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Development
of regional environmental system
(climate-ecology-society-economy-hydrology) integrated model;
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Impacts
of global change on regional climate system and study on
orderly human adaptation;
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Comprehensive
integrated study on the aridification in Northern China.
In
the field of global change studies, START
TEA RC has made remarkable contribution to the implementation of
the key projects. In the period of the Eighth Five-year Plan and
the Ninth Five-year Plan, START TEA RC took charge of certain
projects in State Climb Program and Climb Preelection
Program related to global change, participated or managed a series
of Natural Science Foundation key basic research programs and
Chinese Academy of Sciences key projects. At present, START TEA RC
is responsible for the national key basic research development
program (“973” Project)—“Predictive Study of Aridification
in Northern China in Association with Life-supporting Environment
Changes”. It is also in charge of several key projects of CAS,
for instance, “The Impact of Inter-action of Ocean, Land and
Atmosphere in Asia Monsoon Region on China Climate Change”(CAS
Knowledge Innovation Project Key Direction Project Sub-project),
“Develop Regulation, Mechanisms and Predictive Theory of Arid
Climate in North West China”(CAS
Key Project Sub-project) and “Carbon Circulation Modeling Study
of China Forest Ecological System”(CAS
Knowledge Innovation Project Key Project Sub-project), etc.
Some
of START TEA RC research works
have gained international influences:
(1)
Two new scientific notions, “the ecological
system driven by monsoon” and “General monsoon system”, and
Regional Integrated Environmental Model System (RIEMS)
have been set great store by the international colleagues. Dr. W.
Steffen, the international program executive director of IGBP,
said it was an excellent demonstration of regional climate
research. The international START has published a special bulletin
to report these research results;
(2)
START TEA RC takes in charge of
the international project “ Regional Climate Model
Inter-comparison for Asia (RMIP)”
participated by 10 groups from five countries. RIEMS
comprehensive performances are in the lead of the 10 regional
climate models of RMIP;
(3)
The research of interaction
between Land Use/Land Cover and East Asia Monsoon, one of the
invited presentations in IGBP Open Conference, received widely
attention;
(4)
The Atmosphere-Vegetation
Inter-action Model (AVIM) got high praise in “International
Ecological System Model and data Inter-comparison Project”(EMDI,
1999-2002).
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START
TEA RC has also made some progresses in the fields of
nonlinear dynamics and climate extremes, soil moisture,
ecological system modeling, satellite remote sensing in
climate and macro-ecology and atmosphere radiant, etc.
Recently, focusing on the aridification in Northern China
and supported by “973 Project”, the new scientific idea
of “orderly human adaptation” has been raised. |
| Fig. Schematic structure of the Atmosphere-Vegetation Interaction Model
(AVIM
). |
START
TEA RC has a strong research group, and advanced research members
include one academician, six professors and five associate
professors.
So
far START TEA RC has hosted two international training courses and
five important international conferences. |
