Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Reflections and future strategies for Third Pole Environment

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 3, pages 608–610 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Third Pole Environment programme was established to characterize Earth System interactions over the broader Tibetan Plateau region. Despite past successes, more insight and actionable knowledge are needed, particularly regarding the Asian Water Tower’s imbalance and associated ecosystem feedbacks and geohazards, and the teleconnections between the Third Pole and other regions.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Yao, T. et al. Recent Third Pole’s rapid warming accompanies cryospheric melt and water cycle intensification and interactions between monsoon and environment: Multidisciplinary approach with observations, modeling, and analysis. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 100, 423–444 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. You, Q. D. et al. AghaKouchak, Elevation dependent warming over the Tibetan Plateau: patterns, mechanisms and perspectives. Earth Sci. Rev. 210, 103349 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Yao, T. et al. Different glacier status with atmospheric circulations in Tibetan Plateau and surroundings. Nat. Clim. Change 2, 663–667 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang, Y. et al. Permafrost thawing puts the frozen carbon at risk over the Tibetan Plateau. Sci. Adv. 6, 1–8 (2020).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Zhang, G. et al. Extensive and drastically different alpine lake changes on Asia’s high plateaus during the past four decades. Geophys. Res. Lett. 44, 252–260 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Piao, S. et al. Characteristics, drivers and feedbacks of global greening. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 1, 14–27 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Yao, T. et al. The imbalance of the Asian water tower. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00299-4 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gao, J. et al. Collapsing glaciers threaten Asia’s water supplies. Nature 565, 19–21 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. A Scientific Assessment of the Third Pole Environment (UNEP, 2022); https://www.unep.org/resources/report/scientific-assessment-third-pole-environment

  10. Yao, T. et al. Third Pole Environment (TPE). Environ. Dev. 3, 52–64 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (STEP) Program (2019QZKK0208), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20100300) and our international partners. The authors are grateful to J. Gao, W. Wang and G. Zhang.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Tandong Yao & Shilong Piao

  2. Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Lonnie Thompson

  3. Department of Earth Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Deliang Chen

  4. Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Shilong Piao

Authors
  1. Tandong Yao
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lonnie Thompson
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Deliang Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shilong Piao
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tandong Yao.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yao, T., Thompson, L., Chen, D. et al. Reflections and future strategies for Third Pole Environment. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 608–610 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00342-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00342-4

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing