High Mountain Asia (HMA), extending from the Hindu Kush and Tien Shan in the west to the Eastern Himalaya, is one of the most sensitive area to the global change, and the change to the glaciers over there is regarded as an important impact factor to understand global change, evaluate potential impacts on downstream ecosystem and hazard risks.

In the backdrop of 2014 China-US Joint Announcement on Climate Change, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the US National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) have been communicating the research on glacier change and associated hazards using Earth observation technology through series of workshops, aiming to characterize the change of glaciers, analyze the hazard threats posed by the changes, and evaluate its effects on downstream ecosystem.

To facilitate the communication and joint research, in 2015 two CAS-NASA workshops were held in Nepal and the US in January and September respectively. The workshops are organized by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI) under CAS and NASA Earth Science Division (ESD), and three joint working groups are formed to write series reports and to clarify the potential science questions for collaborative research.

At the third CAS-NASA workshop held in China in March 2016, scientists finally defined the study area for the common interest. Participants also discussed the development and scoping for the Glacier Melt Toolbox, which will include a program of process studies, observations, and modeling and decision support tools that will address the science questions. A continuing communication mechanism was reinforced, and planned to continue it through the teleconference, and workshops. The fourth CAS-NASA workshop is scheduled to be held in Alaska of the US in October 2016.

Early this year, NASA has planned to provide 1.05 million fund awards in three years for the research on “Understanding Changes in HMA”. The key investigators funded by the program will receive support to participate as members of NASA’s High Mountain Asia Team (HiMAT). A Chinese research team consisting of experts from CAS institutes and domestic universities and agencies will also be formed to promote the glacier change in HMA.