Special Issue on Climate Change over the Third Pole: Detection, Attribution, Impact, and Adaptation

After the North and South Poles, comes the "Third Pole" - the highland core of Asia, which includes the Hindu-Kush, Karakorum, Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau and all the mountain ranges that surround it. This region provides water and ecosystem services to billions of people in Asia. It is well accepted that the region has undergone a climate warming that is larger than that experienced by the northern hemisphere and other regions at similar latitudes over the last decades. This has resulted in a number of environmental changes, which have huge implications for millions of people living in the Third Pole region and downstream areas. Understanding the interactions of the Earth system's multi-spheres (atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and anthroposphere) in the Third Pole is becoming one of the hottest topics for global environmental research. 

This special issue will focus on climate change and its impacts on, and implications for, sustainable development in the Third Pole region and beyond. It will highlight recent progress, elucidate the technical and scientific challenges and point to future developments. Potential topics will include, but not be limited to:

• Environmental changes on the Third Pole under global change, focusing on water cycle, biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Interaction between the components of the regional Earth system
• Past and future regional climate changes using in-situ and air-borne observation system, regional and/or global climate models, and assimilation systems
• Climatic hazards and risks
• Adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of the human and natural systems
• Natural resource management and regional sustainability

All submissions will undergo anonymous peer review to guarantee high scientific quality and relevance. For information on the Guide for Authors and submission process, please visit the journal homepage of Advances in Climate Change Research.  

• Submission deadline: 25 September 2020
• Publication date: 2021

Guest editors

• Tandong Yao,  Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
• Deliang Chen, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothernburg, Sweden