Waliguan Global Atmospheric Background Station marks 30th anniversary

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Waliguan Global Atmospheric Background Station, more than 130 meteorological experts from home and abroad gathered in Xining, Qinghai province, for an international conference on climate change this week.

The atmospheric background refers to the natural content of each component of the air under conditions unaffected by human activities. As the only global atmospheric background station in the hinterland of the Eurasian continent, the observatory located at the top of Waliguan Mountain in Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Qinghai at an altitude of over 3,800 meters is an ideal observation spot for studying the exchange of atmospheric components between the land and atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere and its environmental and climatic effects.

Over the past 30 years, researchers have continuously observed atmospheric components here and have drawn the famous "Waliguan Curve", which accurately and continuously depicts the concentration changes of Earth's greenhouse gases, providing support for global climate change research.

The Waliguan Curve shows a year-on-year increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, completely matching the observational data from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, becoming an important basis for countries around the world to formulate international climate agreements.

"This curve provides key data support for studying the laws of climate change, influencing factors, and predicting future climate, serving as an important basis for supporting the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and playing a crucial guiding role in the formulation of climate policies, including providing scientific basis for the country's dual carbon strategy," said Chao Qingchen, director of the National Climate Center.

"Some of the data have become first-hand materials for China's negotiations on the international stage, greatly enhancing China's influence and discourse power in the field of international climate change," she said.

Today, the Waliguan Global Atmospheric Background Station can conduct all-weather, high-density, accurate observations of a total of more than 60 observation elements across 30 observation projects, generating over 60,000 data points every day. It collaborates with numerous domestic and foreign universities and research institutions to jointly carry out dozens of scientific research and experiments.