Region Southwest China
in cooperation with Prof. Luo Ji, Institute of Mountain Hazard and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, PR China
The Gongga Shan range (Gongga Shan 7556 m asl) with the highest mountain in China proper (outside Tibet) is situated in the mountain ranges marking the transition zone from the lowlands of Southwest China to the Tibetan plateau. With a vertical difference of more than 6,300 m within a horizontal
distance of only 11km, the eastern escarpment of Gongga Shan features one of the largest local altitude differences in the world.
The project proposes a survey of the extremely different geoecological (particular climatic) gradients of the eastern and western escarpment, a spatial estimation the water balance ot the eastern, partially glaciated basin and monitoring of the primeval mountain forests that are endangered by logging.
This will be achieved by digitizing Chinese land use maps, the construction of a high-resolution digital elevation model (from map scales ranging from 1:100.000 to 1:25.000), a relief corrected regionalisation of climate data, integration of data in a Geographical Information System and modeling of the water balance.
1997 The Climate of the Gongga Shan Range, Sichuan Province, PR China.
Arctic and Alpine Research 29, 226 - 232. abstract
1999 Overview of the Geoecology of the Gongga Shan Range, Sichuan Province, China.
Mountain Research and Development 19, (1), 17 - 30. abstract
duration: 2003 - app. 2006