The Silk Road agenda of the Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program

• Published in: Big Earth Data
• Main Authors: Hanna K. Lappalainen, Markku Kulmala, Joni Kujansuu, Tuukka Petäjä, Alexander Mahura, Gerrit de Leeuw, Sergej Zilitinkevich, Merli Juustila, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Bob Bornstein, Zhang Jiahua, Xue Yong, Qiu Yubao, Liang Dong, Liu Jie, Guo Huadong
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018
• Subjects: Silk Road Economic Belt; air quality; land-climate feedbacks; Earth observation data; in situ observations; multiscale modeling; SMEAR concept; Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program; Digital Belt and Road (DBAR) program; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation; G; Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2018.1437704; https://doaj.org/article/e1c0e96e4a4e404b8e989bc83cf558fb

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (B&R) aims at facilitating the twenty-first Century economic development of China. However, climate change, air quality and related feedbacks are affecting the successful development of the environment and societies in the B&R geographical domain. The most urgent risks related to the atmospheric system, to the land system and to hydrospheric and cryospheric processes are changing climate – air quality interactions, air pollution, changing monsoon dynamics, land degradation, and the melting of Tibetan Plateau glaciers. A framework is needed in which a science and technology-based approach has the critical mass and expertise to identify the main steps toward solutions and is capable to implement this roadmap. The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) program, initiated in 2012, aims to resolve science, technology and sustainability questions in the Northern Eurasian region. PEEX is now identifying its science agenda for the B&R region. One fundamental element of the PEEX research agenda is the availability of comprehensive ground-based observations together with Earth observation data. PEEX complements the recently launched international scientific program called Digital Belt and Road (DBAR). PEEX has expertise to coordinate the ground-based observations and initiate new flagship stations, while DBAR provides a big data platform on Earth observation from China and countries along the Belt and Road region. The DBAR and PEEX have joint interests and synergy expertise on monitoring on ecological environment, urbanization, cultural heritages, coastal zones, and arctic cold regions supporting the sustainable development of the Belt and Road region. In this paper we identify the research themes of the PEEX related Silk Road agenda relevant to China and give an overview of the methodological requirements and present the infrastructure requirements needed to carry out large scale research program.