International Cooperation

Icelandic President Visits CAS Institutes

From Sep. 5 to 12, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland, paid a visit to the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research and the Yulong Snow Mountain Glacier and Environment Observation and Research Station of the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, CAS and planted a Taxus chinensis, a kind of wonder plant considered as a national treasure of China, on the Yulong Snow Mountain, as an emblem of long-standing friendship between China and Iceland. He also visited the Southwest China Germplasm Bank of Wild Species and other research institutes of CAS.-9

GCP: Significant Achievements by Joint Efforts

The International Geological Correlation Programmes (IGCP) ”Palaeozoic vertebrate biogeography, palaeogeography and climate” (IGCP491 Project, 2003-2007) coordinated by Prof. Zhu Min of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS and Dr. Gavin Young of the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University explored the interaction among the paleobiogeography, palaeoatmosphere composition, ancient climate change and prehistoric extinction events through studies of early Middle Paleozoic vertebrates in the world on the basis of the principles of stratigraphic geology, palaeontology, sedimentology, fossil fuel science, geophysics and geotectology and made significant achievements recently. The first and second issues of 2010 of the magazine Palaeoworld published the series of achievements made by this research project in the form of special issue. IGCP491 Project is the 26th project coordinated by the Chinese scholars. Its main goal is to provide stricter limit on the connection and isolation times of the vast equation ocean in the Middle Paleozoic period and a theoretical frame for understanding the diversity of terrestrial ecosystems in the “Age of fishes” (Devonian period) and its interaction with the atmosphere composition, climate change and mass extinction events, using a comprehensive global database (spatial and temporal distribution of early lower vertebrate animals). There are 15 theses published in total, covering the fields of palaeontology, biostratigraphy, paleobiogeography and paleoclimatology.

Joint Drilling Project in Greenland

The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project undertaken by scientists from 14 countries, including Denmark, the United States, China and Japan, drilled through the north Greenland ice sheet and hit the bedrock at a depth of 2,537.36 meters on Jul. 27. This project aims to carry out research on retrieval from climate change records in the Eemian period, the last interglacial period beginning 130,000 years ago and ending 15,000 years later. Earlier researches showed that in the Eemian period, Greenland’s climate was warmer and the global sea level was about 5 meters higher than that is today. According to analysis, the 2m deep ice core at the bottom of NEEM ice core contains large quantities of rock debris and other materials. These materials have been trapped under the non-illuminated ice sheet for more than 100,000 years. Scientists are expected to reveal the environmental conditions before the ice cap formed through DNA test and sporopollen analysis.