The First Tibetan Glaciologist Tsedong.docx

The First Tibetan Glaciologist Tsedong.docx

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TheFirstTibetanGlaciologistTsedong

TheFirstTibetanGlaciologistTsedong

　　Dr.Tsedong，bornin1967，isthefirstTibetanglaciologistinhistory.HisparentsbothworkedinthebreedingfarminNyingchi.SohelivedonthepasturesofNulanginhisboyhood.HismostproudachievementthenwasthatdespitebeingintheTibetan-languageclassinthecountyjuniorhigh，hetaughthimselfChineseafterschool.Hisbilingualskillsgavehimadistinctadvantageinhisstudies.Later，Tsedongmadeaquicksuccessionofachievements：

hegotintothescienceclassoftheprefecturehighschool，andthenwasadmittedbytheDepartmentofPhysicsofTibetUniversity（TU）.Aftergraduationin1990，hestayedtheretoteach.Tosomepeople，studycanfeellikedrudgery，butTsedonghasneverbeenoneofthem.Drivenbyathirstforknowledge，heenjoyedthelearningprocessalot.Helikesstudyinglanguages，notjustforgettingcredits，buttoreadmorefirst-handmaterials.Evenwhenhewasjustajuniorhighstudent，thetwosubjectsfascinatedhimthemostweretwoabstruseones：

astrophysicsandphilosophy.

　　Inthesecondyearofhisteachingcareer，TsedongwassentbyTUtostudyattheNanjingNormalUniversity.Besideshismajorcourses，hespentalotoftimeimprovinghisEnglish，whichhadalwaysbeenhisweakspotbecauseheonlystartedlearningEnglishinhighschool.WhenhecamebacktoTUtoteachtheoreticalphysicstoundergraduatestudents，YangbajaincosmicrayobservatorywasestablishedjointlybyTUandtheUniversityofTokyoinJapan.Hewassentbytheschooltoworkforoneyearthereinchargeofthespectroscopywork.Tsedongfinallyrealizedhischildhooddreamoflookingatthestarsandstudyingastrophysics.HisEnglishalsoimprovedalotbyworkingwithJapaneseexperts.Thislaidagoodfoundationforhisfuturestudy.

　　Tsedong’smaster’sdegreeanddoctoratewerebothobtainedthroughauniversitycooperationprojectbetweenTUandauniversityinNorway.From2001to2004，Tsedongstudiedremotesensing，meteorologyandglaciologyinNorway.Hebegantoshiftthefocusofhisstudytoglaciology.Butwhenhereceivedhismaster’sdegreeandcamebacktoTibet，hewasnotabletousewhathehadlearned，becauseTUdidnotofferglaciologyasasubject.Sohewentbacktohisoldjob，andtaughtthermologyandthermodynamics/statisticalphysicstosophomoreandseniorstudentsoftheDepartmentofPhysics.Ayearlater，goodnewscamefromabroad：

hewasadmittedasadoctoralstudent.From2005to2008，hewouldstudyglaciologyinNorway.　　EvenwhilehewasinNorthernEurope，hisfieldofstudywasabouttheTibetanplateau.Itwasnotrestrictedtotheplateau，butcloselylinkedtoglobalclimatechange.Whenhewasstudyingforhismaster’sdegree，hismainobjectofstudywasXibuglacier.“Xibu”isatransliterationoftheTibetannamewhichmeans“goodluck”.XibuglacierislocatedonthesideofthemainpeakofMt.NyanchenThanglha.Tsedongincorporatedthetemperaturedatarecordedin42yearsby12meteorologicalstationsindifferentpartsoftheTibetplateau，aswellasdatafromremotesensingandsatelliteimages，todemonstratethechangefeaturesofmarineglacieranditsmechanism.Moreimportantly，sincethenhehasbeenworkingonhisownscientificmodel“energybalancemodelofglaciers”.BythetimehefinishedhisdoctoralthesisASimulationStudyofMassBalanceofGlaciersonQinghaiTibetPlateauandItsLong-termChangeTrend，henotonlyusedmeasureddataofXibuglacier，butalsodevelopedanumericalsimulationmodelbyhimself.ThepaperwaslaterpublishedintheJournalofGlaciology，arespectedjournalbasedinCambridge.ThiswasahugeencouragementtoTsedong.

　　Fortunefavorsthepreparedmind.Tsedongsoonmetsomeonewhowouldbeextremelyimportantforhisstudy.HisadvisorProfessorIngvarGjessingisaninternationallyrenownedmeteorologistandglaciologist.Prof.GjessingisnostrangertoChina.OntwoofhissevenAntarctictrips，heworkedwithQinDahe，academicianofChinaAcademyofScience（CAS）.Prof.Gjessingwasinhis70sthen.Hehaddedicatedhislifetoscience，andnevermarried.HetreatedTsedonglikehisownson.OnonetriptoTibet，heinsistedonvisitingNulanginNyingchi，justtoseehisstudent’soldhome.ThetwoofthemsetuptwoobservationsitesinTibet.OneisatXibuglacierinLatokVillageofYangbajainCounty；theotherisatMitoiglacierinPome.Theyhadbeenworkingontheformersiteformanyyears，andmaintainedagoodrelationshipwiththelocals.ThevillageheadofLatokVillage，Droma，whowasover70yearsold，helpedkeepwatchontheautomaticweatherstationandreaddataregularly，evenlearnedtorecordcloudcoverandprecipitation.Inreturn，TsedongandProf.Gjessingpaidfortheconstructionofabridgeinthevillage.Initially，TsedongandthelocalsofMitoiglacierwereonveryfriendlyterms.MitoiglacierwasoncevotedoneofthesixmostbeautifulglaciersinChinabyChineseNationalGeographymagazine.Thatledtoaboomintourism，andgavethevillagersmoreopportunitiestomakesomeextramoney.Theytreasuretheirglacier，butwereworriedatthesightoftheretreatingglacier.Theirheartsweretornwithanxiety.Obviouslythiswasbecauseoftheglobalwarming.Butthedivinepowercouldnotbeblamed.Sothevillagersblameditontheresearchers，who“offended”thedivinemountainbyplacingequipmentsontheglacier，andstickingsightingrodsonit.Therefore，nomatterhowTsedongexplainedit，thevillagerswouldnotlisten.Theresearchteamhadtoleave.

　　Until2010，Tsedonghadbeenworkingalone.Itwasverydifficult：

ifaprojectisnotapproved，thefundingcouldnotbesecured；withoutthesupportofateam，nothingsignificantcouldbeachieved.Inthisdifficulttime，anopportunitypresenteditself.Thatsummer，YaoTandong，academicianofCAS，renownedglaciologistanddirectoroftheInstituteofTibetanPlateauResearch（ITP）atCAS，gaveatalkonpopularscienceinLhasaonGlaciersandEnvironment.TsedonghadheardlotaboutProf.Yao，andhadcitedYao’sviewsandstatisticsinhisdoctoraldissertation，sohecametoattendthelecture.Afterthetalkwasover，hewentupandintroducedhimself.Thetwoofthemhititoffatonce，andreachedsomeimportantagreements.InOctoberofthatyear，TsedongsuccessfullydefendedhisthesisinITPatCAS，andenteredthepostdoctoralstationoftheinstitute.YaoTandong，theinternationallyrenownedglaciologist，becamehisadvisor.

　　IgottoknowTsedongin2012，whenIfollowedthemultidisciplinaryteamledbyProf.YaotosetupmeteorologicalandhydrologicalstationsnearthesourcesoffourinternationalriversinNgariofwesternTibet：

SengyeKhabap，LangchenZangbo，Kongque（Peacock）HeandYarlungZangbo.Tsedongnotonlydidhisshareofscientificresearchworkontheteam，butalsoactedastheinterpreterwhowasresponsibleforcommunicatingwiththelocals.Iwasgreatlyimpressedbythisall-rounder.Oneyearafterthat，wesatdowntotalkintheLhasaofficeofITPinthesummer.HetoldmethatbesidescontinuinghisworkonXibuglacierasapost-doc，hereceivedanassignmentfromhisadvisortooverseetwonewlyestablishedsites.Oneofthem，GyamaYangzomglaciernearthesourceoftheYarlungZangbo，washandpickedbyhisadvisortheyearbefore.Tsedonglivedfor20daysatthealtitudeof5000meters，andplaced164-meter-longsightingrodsontheglacier.However，twomonthslater，whenhewentbacktocheck，thesightingrodswereallgone.Hespenttwodayslookingfortherods，andonlyfound3oftheminthemorainallakebelow.Itshowedthatinoneablationseason，theglacierretreatedforatleast4meters.Howshockingwasthat！

　　TheothernewsiteisPuyuglacierinBenpaCounty.ManyglaciologyteamshaveworkedontheplateaubetweenHimalayaandKarakoranMountains，buttheyrarelyventuredintotheglaciersofeasternTibet.Sothistripfilledthegap.PuyuglacierisontheeasternsectionofMt.NyanchenThanglha.Itis9kilometerslongand1kilometerwide.Tsedongsetupanautomaticweatherstationontheglacier，andplaced6rowsofsightingrodsonitssurface.Hisworkwentextremelywell.ThevillagersofPuyuwelcomedtheexpertsfromCAS.Theprojectwasvaluedbythevillageheadandprotectedbythevillagers.Theautomaticweatherstationwasnotonlyimportantforglaciologists，itwouldbevaluableforallsubjectsrelatedtoclimatechanges.Insparselypopulatedareas，theequipmentswereoftendamaged.Itwasnotbecausethelocalshadanythingagainsttheequipmentsthemselves，butbecausethesolarpanelswereveryusefulinthattheycouldprovidelightingforthosetentswithoutpowersupplies.Sotheywereoftentaken.Thisposesaheadachefortheexperts.

　　Aftertwoyearsofobservation，TsedonglearnedthatPuyuglacierhadbeenretreatingattheyearlyrateof0.5meter，whichwasroughlythesameasMitoiglacierinrecent10years.Asapost-doc，Tsedonghadabiggerplatform.HeplannedtoincorporatePuyuglacier’stemperature，humidity，andrateofglacialretreatintohisownscientificmodeltotesttheresultsofsimulatingcalculationandrefineit.Duringthisperiod，hecompletedathesisonthemassbalanceofMitoiglacierwithhisadvisorProf.Yao.Theyhavesentthearticletoaninternationallyprestigiousmagazine.Thiscouldbeviewedasanattempttopromotethismodel.AccordingtoTsedong，amodelcanonlybecomesuccessfulifsomeoneelseusesit.Heaimstobeaninnovatorinthefieldofglaciology.

　　Tsedonghasahappyfamilylife：

hisparents，bothretired，arelivingwithhimandhiswifeinLhasa.TsedongisthefirstPhDinthefamily.There’snoon