Scientists study Yangtze delta monsoons to understand human impact on climate

Xinhua: Chinese scientists are for the first time to start tracking monsoons in the eastern Yangtze River Delta in an attempt to reveal how human activities have impacted on climate change. Fu Congbin, chairman of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS), told Xinhua Saturday, he and his colleagues had found out that the most serious dry area in China was the semi-arid area in the northwest, also the northern boundary of summer monsoons, indicating a correlation.

Scientists under MAIRS, the first project on climate change initiated by Chinese scientists, had been following monsoon activities in the semi-arid areas of northwestern China for about a year to find out how the Asian monsoon system copes with changes in land coverage, water resources and air quality resulted from industrialization.

Under guidance of the SSC, which consists of 15 leading scientists from different Asian countries, MAIRS would start tracking monsoons in the eastern Yangtze River Delta soon.

The exact date of start depends on when MAIRS could persuade existing observation stations to join the program, said Fu, also academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The overall project is studying changes in monsoons in Asia, the most active monsoon region in the world, to find out how human activity has affected climate change….

The Yangtze River delta, shot from the Space Shuttle