On October 28, 2025, the "Global Environment Outlook" course of the International College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), organized a visit for 19 international students to the National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure — the Earth System Numerical Simulation Facility (also known as “Huan”), located in Huairou Science City, Beijing.

The South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) is the world’s most significant monsoon system, providing approximately 80% of the region's annual rainfall—influencing agriculture, water security, and the livelihoods of over a billion people across the Indian Peninsula, the western Indochina Peninsula, and the southern Qinghai-，a recent study published in Nature seeks to address this contradiction by exploring how the SASM responds to warming under six climate scenarios, spanning from the past to the future. Led by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the study develops a unified framework based on thermodynamic (moisture-driven) and dynamic (wind-driven) processes that govern changes in the SASM, suggesting that insights from past warm climates can inform our understanding of the future SASM.

With climate change intensifying, the frequency of extreme compound weather events—such as heatwaves and droughts—continues to rise. Flash droughts, characterized by their rapid onset and severe impacts, are becoming a new normal in the 21st century. Events like the 2012 U.S. Midwest flash drought and the 2022 Yangtze River drought have led to substantial declines in terrestrial carbon sinks and crop yields. Assessing ecosystem resilience to flash droughts is crucial for developing adaptation strategies, yet global-scale, long-term studies on vegetation resistance remain scarce.

Beijing, China — The Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) hosts the Beijing node of the Global KM-Scale Hackathon 2025 from May 12 to 16, 2025. Organized under the auspices of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), this landmark event unites scientists worldwide to tackle critical challenges in climate science through cutting-edge kilometer-scale modeling and collaborative innovation.

Recently,the Academia Europaea (AE) announced its 2025 list of newly elected members. Professor Su Hang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP),Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS),was elected as a Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE) after rigorous evaluation.

New research reveals that shifts in plant life played a key role in speeding up major climate changes during the late Miocene, a period spanning 11.6 to 5.3 million years ago.

Extreme rainfall events can cause devastating floods, landslides, and widespread damage, yet predicting them remains a major challenge. While scientists often study how often and how intensely it rains, the duration of rainfall is just as critical in assessing its impact. However, research on long-lasting extreme rainfall has been limited—until now.

The summer of 2022 experienced concurrent extreme heatwaves over Europe and Southern China, causing heavy wildfires and energy shortages. But how often do these synchronized heatwaves occur, and what are their underlying physical mechanisms? Recent research, published in npj climate and atmospheric science, reveals robust synchronization between heatwaves over Europe and East Asia from a statistical perspective and investigates the underlying physical mechanisms by utilizing the event synchronization climate network method, atmospheric dynamic diagnostics, and numerical experiments. Led by Dr. JIANG Jilan from the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), this study provides new insights into the nonlinear synchronization of extreme heatwaves in Europe and East Asia.

On October 15, Dr. Ghulam Rasul, the first foreign Doctor of Science (DS) cultivated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences visited IAP. He paid a special visit to his doctoral mentor, Academician Zeng Qingcun.

A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has provided new insights into how wood density in trees and shrubs adapts to different climate and soil conditions. Led by Dr. SONG Xiang from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research offers a more detailed understanding of vegetation responses to environmental factors, with implications for improving Earth system models and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs).