China has suffered an extreme heat wave this summer. The Yangtze River has been completely dried up in parts, resulting in an acute energy shortage. In a new episode of the Swedish podcast “Kinapodden”, BECC-researcher Deliang Chen at the University of Gothenburg, guests the podcast to talk about the drought, China's vulnerability to climate change, and measures taken.
Listen to Kinapodden “Därför är torkan längs Yangtzefloden en katastrof för Kina” (In Swedish)
A review article of the imbalance of the Asian water tower
Human-caused global warming is disrupting the water balance at the Tibetan Plateau, also called the Third Pole because it is the largest global store of frozen water after the polar regions. Earlier this summer, Deliang Chen was one of the researchers behind a new study published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, which describes the imbalance of the Asian water tower caused by climate change. The study is based on information from on-site observations and satellite data that can be used to quantify changes in air temperature, precipitation, glacier mass, atmospheric circulation and water storage on land, using model simulations.
Further reading
Article about the study on University of Gothenburg’s website (in Swedish):
Klimatförändring stör vattenbalansen vid Asiatiska vattentornet
Review published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment:
The imbalance of the Asian water tower
More information about Deliang Chen and his research