Progress on Cryospheric Studies by International and Chinese Communities and Perspectives

The recent program of WCRP/CliC, which represents the current tendency of the international studies on cryopshere, is introduced. Cryopshere is an important water resource in China for maintaining the socioeconomic development in the arid and oasis regions, it also plays an important role in stabilizing the ecological system over the cold regions of western China such as Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. With the global warming, the effects of the climate, environment, ecology and water resource by cryospheric decay are becoming more negative and stronger. These effects threat the security of the sustainable development in western China. It suggests that future cryospheric studies in China should focus on the following 5 projects: Processes monitoring, paleo-climate and paleo-environment records, cryospheric and climatic modeling, relations of cryospheric change and water resources, and impacts assessment and adaptation strategy under various scenarios of cryospheric changes.