Having arrived on the roof of the world

The team of the International Research Training Group "Geo-ecosystems in Transition on the Tibetan Plateau (TransTiP)", funded by DFG, has reached its destination of this year’s field campaign: the research station NAMORS at Lake Nam Co on the Tibetan Plateau. Professor Andreas Hördt from the Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics reports in a small series of logbook entries about the work at the research station on the roof of the world.

The Tibetan Plateau is also referred to as ‘the third pole’ due to its sensitivity to climate change. In the research project, German doctoral researchers and scientists from Braunschweig, Hannover and Jena, together with Chinese colleagues, will study the water cycle, sediment transport and carbon cycle, which are of importance for the further development of the climate and water supply, not only on the Tibetan Plateau but for the entire continent.

Starting the first measurements

"We have been in Asia for a little over a week now, acclimatized ourselves in Beijing and then in Lhasa, have expanded our knowledge of the current state of research during a summer school and prepared the upcoming measurements. Up here at the research station, at an altitude of 4700m, we have already started working after a short familiarization phase. Some of us take water and soil samples around the lake, others want to go higher, e.g. to investigate the presence of frozen soil. It will certainly be very exhausting for everyone. We are very excited and will report again soon.”