Field observation is an integral part of the graduate program for graduate students majoring in atmospheric sciences at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). On April 17, 2021, 50 UCAS postgraduate students enrolled in the course "Atmospheric Physics and Atmospheric Sounding Frontiers" went to the Xianghe Observatory of Whole Atmosphere in Hebei Province to observe the atmosphere from a different perspective.

Xianghe Observatory, hosted by CAS Institute of Atmospheric Physics, is a comprehensive observation platform of atmospheric physics and the atmospheric environment. It has joined the World Radiation Monitoring Center Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and has been sharing its data worldwide.

The field trip was organized by the chief lecturer of the course, Prof. LYU Daren and Assoc. Prof. WU Xue. "We hope the field trip could provide you an opportunity of turning book knowledge into practice and help you get a realistic picture of problems encountered by the field researchers so that you are better prepared for your future research career." Said Prof. LYU to students. Prof. LYU is a CAS senior academician.

A panoramic view of the Beijing MST radar (Xianghe Station). (Image by WU Xue)

Prof. LYU Daren explained the structure and detection principle of the Beijing Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) radar (Xianghe Station) in front of the large radar facility. The MST radar was constructed as an essential part of the "Chinese Meridian Project", a major national science and technology infrastructure project. (Image by TIAN Yufang) 

Dr. TIAN Yufang (in blue shirt), chief designer of the MST radar of "The Meridian Project" Phase 2, showed the application of MST radar and the progress of "The Meridian Project" Phase II. (Image by WU Xue) 

Prof. NAN Weidong, an expert of atmospheric observation working at the Xianghe Observatory of Whole Atmosphere, showed students observation equipment for measuring Earth's surface albedo. (Image by WU Xue)

A group photo of lecturers and graduate students participating in the field trip. (Image by TIAN Yufang) 

Many students described the trip as "inspiration". YU Ting, a student interested in climate predictability, said, "Before this trip, I thought climate modeling does not have an apparent connection with atmospheric observations. Now I'm fully aware that the long-term observation data are indispensable resources for model constraints and model results verifications".

Media contact: Ms. LIN Zheng, jennylin@mail.iap.ac.cn