Focusing on the GEO Cold Regions Initiative, this event addresses how climate-driven shifts in cryospheric carbon, water, and energy cycles affect environmental systems and socio-economic development. Participants will discuss interdisciplinary data, models, and monitoring strategies needed to track these changes and inform decision-making. The event aims to strengthen international collaboration and identify priorities for sustainable development in cold regions.
Climate change is profoundly altering the cryosphere across the Arctic, the Tibetan Plateau, and their connecting transition zones, with cascading impacts on global carbon-water-energy systems and sustainable development. The interaction between the Arctic and High Mountain Asia is driving profound transformations in the cold deserts, alpine meadows, forests, and desert ecosystems of Central Asia, particularly Xinjiang through rapid cryospheric degradation, i.e. glacier retreat, permafrost thaw, and snow cover changes. These changes pose unprecedented challenges to regional water security, agricultural productivity, and renewable energy development.
This session will bring together leading scientists to present cutting-edge research on cryospheric carbon-water-energy cycles in the Arctic-Asian transition zones. It aims to elucidate the unique role of this transition zone in linking polar and high-altitude climate systems, with special emphasis on the application of space observation technologies to advance evidence-based solutions for sustainable development in these vulnerable regions.