In order to serve the national major strategies, enhance the level of original innovation in the field of permafrost and field scientific observation capacity, Gansu Provincial Department of Science and Technology recently issued a "notice on the approval of the construction of Gansu Province Qilian Mountain permafrost and ecological environment field scientific observation research station" (Gan Ke Ji Han [2003] No.6), Qilian Mountains permafrost and ecological environment field scientific observatory in Gansu Province, built on the basis of Lanzhou University, was formally approved for the project.
The Qilian Mountains are located at the throat of the Silk Road Economic Belt, an important ecological security barrier in the western part of China, and a key area for safeguarding the depth of the national strategy and the inheritance of Chinese civilization, with the important functions of maintaining the ecological balance of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, maintaining the stability of the oasis in the Hexi Corridor, and safeguarding the inland river and the Yellow River runoff replenishment. Influenced by climate change and human activities, water resources and ecological problems in the Qilian Mountains have become prominent, jeopardizing the sustainable economic and social development of the Hexi Corridor and the smooth implementation of the national strategies of the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "Ecological Protection and High-Quality Development of the Yellow River Basin".
Qilian Mountain is one of the regions with the most significant climate change, the most complete ecosystem, and the most complex surface processes in the mid-latitude mountains, and the perennial permafrost is widely distributed, with strong sensitivity and poor thermal stability, which has an important influence on the ecological hydrological and carbon cycle processes. Based on this, the Qilian Mountain Permafrost and Ecological Environment Field Scientific Observatory (Qilian Mountain Permafrost Station for short) has been continuously carrying out the space-air-ground integrated monitoring of climate, permafrost, snow, vegetation, soil and other elements since 2011, providing a scientific observation platform for the development of climate-permafrost-ecology-soil carbon-nitrogen biogeochemical cycle, which can improve the understanding of the interaction mechanism between surface processes and climate change.
The Qilian Mountain Permafrost Station focuses on the major scientific and technological problems of rapid changes and mechanisms of perennial permafrost, solves key scientific problems of permafrost disaster prevention and mitigation by monitoring the water resources and ecological effects of permafrost changes, and puts forward coping strategies for the sustainable development of perennial permafrost and its affected areas; studies the interaction between environmental elements and permafrost, elucidates the physical mechanisms of permafrost degradation, solves the difficult problem of the large uncertainty in the simulation of permafrost degradation, and promote the development of climate change and other related sciences. The station now has 13 permanent staff members, specializing in geography, hydrology, ecology and environmental science, including 3 national young talents. The Observatory will continue to improve the monitoring network of the permafrost ecosystem in the Qilian Mountains, obtain high-quality, continuous and long-term monitoring data on permafrost and the main environmental factors related to permafrost; build a comprehensive database and shared service platform for permafrost in the Qilian Mountains; Promote research on the process and mechanism of permafrost change and its interaction mechanism with various layers, which can serve the needs of national strategies such as the Qilian Mountains ecological civilization construction and ecological environment management, national park construction planning, the Belt and Road development planning, and the goal of "double carbon".
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Qilian Mountain permafrost and ecological environment field scientific observation and research station base is located in the village of Qinzhuang, Nanfeng Town, Minle County, Zhangye City, covers an area of 10 acres, another 11 acres of building land, the construction of laboratories, offices, meeting rooms, dining room, dormitory a total of 1006.24m2, the purchase of instruments and equipment, 4 sets of more than 100 units. Qilian Mountain permafrost station is a comprehensive field observatory for field observation, scientific research, teaching practice and training, domestic and international cooperation and exchange. It has built a comprehensive monitoring system for permafrost ecosystem in Qilian Mountains, including 30 permafrost zone "climate-permafrost-snow-vegetation" monitoring, and established a monitoring system for "space-air-ground integrated " permafrost carbon process for warming and collapse process. It is a comprehensive experimental base for collecting permafrost parameters, meteorological observation, ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycle and other scientific research tasks in the permafrost area.
