Cold, remote and threatened by global warming: the description applies not only to the North and South Poles, but also to a region of more than five million square kilometres, centred on the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas, that researchers call the third pole. After the Arctic and the Antarctic, the region has Earth's largest store of ice, in more than 46,000 glaciers and vast expanses of permafrost. Yet it is much less studied than its high-latitude counterparts, even though many more lives depend on it.

With global warming hitting the Tibetan plateau hard, scientists gather to plan an international research campaign to understand and mitigate changes at the 'third pole'.

Yongwei Sheng is an associate professor of geography.

To read the full article in Nature by Jane Qiu click here.
 

Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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