Prof. Tandong Yao
Academician
environment
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research
China
Biography
The current and future environmental changes, shaped by the dynamics of cryosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, in the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings have significant impacts on the lives of more than 1.5 billion people living in the region. Major changes are taking place in this region under global warming. Prof. Yao with his group has dedicated to studying environment changes on the Tibetan Plateau. He has validated stable oxygen isotope (?18O) in precipitation as temperature proxy, and found that ?18O represents local atmospheric processes in the northern Tibetan Plateau and represents large-scale oceanic processes in the southern Tibetan Plateau. He has led more than a dozen of expeditions to drill ice cores on the Tibetan Plateau. His study of ice core records using proxies such as stable oxygen isotope has revealed climate and environment changes on the Tibetan Plateau, and found that the last 30 years was the warmest period since 1900AD, and the last 100 years was the warmest period in the past two millennium. He has conducted large-scale in situ observation, analyzed satellite images and remote sensing data, and applied numerical modeling to glacial fluctuations on the Tibetan Plateau
Research Interest
Glacier Environment and Global Change
Publications
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Zhang, G.S., Kang, S.C., Fujita, K., Huintjes, E., Xu, J.Q., Yamazaki, T., Haginoya, S., Wei, Y., Scherer, D., Schneider, C., and Yao, T.D. Energy and mass balance of Zhadang glacier surface, central Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Glaciology, 2013, 59: 137-148
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Yao, T., Masson-Delmotte, V., Gao, J., Yu, W., Yang, X., Risi, C., Sturm, C., Werner, M., Zhao, H., He, Y., Ren, W., Tian, L., Shi, C., & Hou, S. A review of climatic controls on δ18O in precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau: Observations and simulations. Reviews of Geophysics, 2013, 51: 525-548
