A special collection of invited papers has been organized that reflects the current and emerging hot topics in the field of atmospheric sciences to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (AAS), an SCI-indexed international journal hosted by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) and the Chinese National Committee for International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) and jointly published by Springer and Science Press. The authors of these papers, including Sir Prof. Brian HOSKINS (Fellow of the UK Royal Society and American Meteorological society, and also a foreign academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences), Prof. Ola JOHANNESSEN(Founding Director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center), Prof. DING Yihui(Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering), Prof. Ping YANG (Fellow of the American Meteorological Society) and others are well-known in their respective areas. The publication of these papers is divided across the first two issues of the 32nd volume: AAS 32(1) and AAS 32(2) and the early-online versions can be downloaded at http://159.226.119.58/aas/EN/article/showNewArticle.do .

　　Three decades have passed since the first issue of AAS was published in 1984. In that time, accompanied by rapid scientific and technological development, as well as major advancements in the economic and societal application of these developments throughout the world, AAS has continued to adapt its scientific depth and scope, covering topics such as the climate system and climate change (including its natural and anthropological influences on extreme weather and climate events), regional and global environments, atmospheric physics and chemistry, satellite and ground-based remote sensing, and advanced atmospheric exploration. AAS has also expanded its disciplinary content to earth system science, biogeophysics and biogeochemistry, and land surface processes. As the editors at the time of the first issue expected, AAS has become an international journal with an increasing citation rate and visibility from the worldwide scientific community.

　　The journal editors express their appreciation not only to the distinguished contributors of the invited papers, but also to all AAS authors, editors and readers who have helped build the journal’s reputation and standing over the past 30 years.

List of Articles of the Special Section to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences