Professor Wu Guangjian, from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), visited our university and delivered a lecture entitled "Impacts of Rapid Glacier Changes on Hydrology and Water Resources on the Tibetan Plateau" at the " Xudan Lecture Series " and the 31st session of the "Environmental Archaeology Lecture Series" on the afternoon of October 24, 2025. 

Professor Wu Guangjian is a recipient of the National outstanding Youth Science Fund, Director of the Southeast Tibet observation and Research Station, CAS, and Executive Principal Investigator of the glacier scientific expedition task in the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program. His research focuses on rapid glacier changes on the Tibetan Plateau, their environmental impacts, and the response to glacial hazards.

In his lecture, Professor Wu emphasized that the Tibetan Plateau, as the youngest, highest-altitude, and largest plateau on Earth, serves multiple critical functions including climate driving and amplification, ecological security barrier, and "Asia's Water Tower". His research team successfully obtained high-precision estimates of glacier thickness distribution and reserves in the Third Pole region by integrating multi-source data-driven approaches and multi-model coupling technologies. This achievement provides key scientific basis for quantifying the water resources of "Asia's Water Tower" and is of great significance for safeguarding regional water security in Asia. Additionally, he systematically elaborated on the risk of increasing glacial lakes induced by glacier retreat, its genetic mechanisms, characteristic identification, and future trends of glacial lake outburst flood events, highlighting their severe threats to downstream infrastructure and the safety of people's lives and property. Addressing these pressing challenges, Professor Wu proposed urgent need to develop a new generation of alpine hydrological models integrating multi-process, multi-scale, high-precision observations and simulations. This will enhance the capability of predicting and early warning future hydrological regimes and disaster risks, thereby providing solid scientific support for formulating water security strategies and adaptation measures in alpine regions.

Following the talk, the audience engaged enthusiastic discussions with Professor Wu on the issues such as glacier changes and their impacts on surrounding circulation systems, and plateau hydrological monitoring systems. This lecture promoted in-depth exchanges between our university and top domestic research institutions in relevant cutting-edge fields of cryosphere science and Third Pole research.