As the world`s largest and highest plateau with a total area of 2.5 million square kilometers and an average elevation of >4000 m, the Tibetan Plateau（TP）is a typical region of the Earth showing strong interactions of lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and anthroposphere. It is also one of the most unique geology-geography-resource-ecology units, and thus provides an ideal natural laboratory for the theoretical development of Earth System Science. The State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER) is established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on June 28th, 2022. The mission of TPESER is 1) to leverage the comprehensive advantages of multidisciplinary and achieve basic, forward-looking, and strategic breakthroughs in the frontiers of the Earth System; 2) to deliver discovery science and technological support to address the national needs and secure the regional development; 3) to build a “pioneering research platform” for international open science.

In pursuit of its mission, TPESER centers on the principal fundamental scientific questions and frontiers of the Tibetan Plateau research, including 1) Atmosphere-water interactions and environmental security in alpine regions; 2) Ecological changes and security in alpine regions; 3) Continental Collision/Uplift, and Effects on Resources and Environment; 4) Regional Earth system modeling and prediction; 5) Regional sustainability and major engineering support. 

TPESER focuses on the mechanisms of the multispherical coupling process of the TP. It is dedicated to setting up a research paradigm bridging the spatio-temporal processes of the Earth’s surfaces and deep layers, deciphering the visualization technology of the continental subduction structure of deep layers and the coupling mechanism of the plateau uplift and surface environmental changes, achieving accurate observation, modeling, prediction on environmental changes, and disaster mitigation, systematically resolving the major scientific and technological problems regarding resources and environment, and safeguarding the major engineering construction and ecological conservation on the TP.

TPESER is privileged to work with the most talented scientists and engineers in the related field to advance the Earth system research of the TP. Its research on the environmental changes of the Asian water tower, the prehistoric human dispersal to the TP and adaptation to the high-altitude environment, the continental collision and plateau uplift, and the response of vegetation cover to climate change on the plateau, has led the world scientific frontiers in the related fields. The studies on ecology and earth sciences ranked top 1% in the world. In the past five years, more than 70 articles have been published on Nature, Science, PNAS et. al. TPESER is honored to be recognized and awarded for its scientific achievements, including 3 members awarded by famous international scientific societies, and 4 awarded with the second prize of the National Natural Science Awards (NNSA), and 10 ministerial and provincial-level Science and Technology Awards.