JULY 2004 AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY | T he key mission of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP) is to understand water and energy cycles, document their physical processes, and simulate and predict water and energy fluxes. This involves a synergetic strategy integrating satellite data, in situ observations, assimilated data, and modeling simulations. A CEOP Monsoon Systems Work...

Due to their sensitive reaction to changes in climatic conditions, glaciers have been selected as an essential climate variable (ECV). Although a large amount of ice is located in the Himalayas, this region is yet only sparsely represented in global glacier databases. Accordingly, a sound and comprehensive change assessment or determination of water resources was not yet possible. In this study...

[1] The Himalayas have a profound effect on the South Asian climate and the regional hydrological cycle, as it forms a barrier for the strong monsoon winds and serves as an elevated heat source, thus controlling the onset and distribution of precipitation during the Indian summer monsoon. Recent studies have suggested that radiative heating by absorbing aerosols, such as dust and black carbon o...

Satellite-based precipitation, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Cloud Optical Depth (COD), and Aerosol Index (AI) data were used to characterize the linkages among landform and the intra-annual variability of aerosols, cloudiness and rainfall in the Himalayas using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The first modes of AOD and AI show the presence of two branches of dust aerosol: over the...

2 This paper does not in any way reflect the views of the Asian Development Bank or any of its member countries. This paper expresses the views of the author. Any facts or errors in the interpretations of the facts are the author's sole responsibility. Summary Environmental wags claim that "ecoregionalism" has become a buzzword of the new millennium. Conservation biologists claim that multi-cou...

Heleodromia Haliday is recorded from Tibet for the first time with the following three species belonging to the subgenus Heleodromia: Heleodromia (Heleodromia) ausobskyi Wagner, Heleodromia (Heleodromia) basiflava sp. nov. and H. (H.) immaculata Haliday. This finding extends the distribution of Heleodromia in China from Northwest China to Southwest China. A key to the known species of Heleodrom...

We report the 4.36-Mb genome of Cryobacterium roopkundensis strain RuGl7, isolated from a soil sample collected in the periphery of Roopkund Lake, Himalayas, India. The draft genome consists of 4,356,863 bp, 4,048 protein-coding sequences, and 50 RNAs, with 65.3% G+C DNA content.

Previously only one species of the genus Diostracus was known to occur in Tibet. Here the following two new species are added to the fauna of Tibet: Diostracusacutatus sp. n. and Diostracustibetensis sp. n. Their relationships with similar species are discussed. A key to the species of Diostracus from the Himalayas is presented.