Participants in an ongoing TPE cooperative project on monitoring water vapor stable isotopes from stations in Iceland and across the Third Pole held an online project meeting on Sept. 10. They discussed arrangements for future cooperative research, including data examination, research proposals and student exchange.
“This project enables us to connect the atmospheric water cycle at the Arctic and the Third Pole,” said Prof. GAO Jing of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. GAO initiated the project along with Dr. Arny Sveinbjornsdottir, research scientist from the University of Iceland and Dr. Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, research scientist from the University of Bergen. Rosa Olafsdotirr and Thorsteinn Jonsson from the University of Iceland, along with NIU Xiaowei from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research， Chinese Academy of Sciences, also participated in the precipitation sampling and water vapor monitoring work. The group installed its first Arctic observation site at the University of Iceland last November, kick starting coordinated Third Pole-Arctic research under TPE.
During the meeting, participants made research proposals based on data so far collected, and the group agreed to have a Ph.D. candidate do related groundwork in Iceland through a student exchange program. GAO also mentioned a continuous real-time monitoring platform for making in-situ observations of water vapor stable isotopes across the Third Pole. According to Steen-Larsen, “This is what the research community has always wanted, but no one has actually done it before.” The group also decided to meet regularly in the future to follow up on its research.
Studies of water vapor stable isotopes can provide insights into how water is transported, mixed, and changes phase in the atmosphere. By connecting water vapor stable isotopes in the Arctic and the Third Pole, GAO and her colleagues hope to learn more about Earth's hydrological cycle, a key component of the global climate system.
