During December 10-14, 2018, the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program sponsored the session entitled “Third Pole Environment under Global Changes” at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in Washington DC, USA.

The TPE session was convened by TPE Co-chairs, Prof. YAO Tandong, Prof. Lonnie Thompson and Prof. Volker Mosbrugger, together with Professor ZHANG Fan from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Profs. YAO Tandong, Lonnie Thompson, CHEN Fahu and LIANG Eryuan Chaired the sections. Scientists from China, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Nepal, Pakistan and other countries participated the session. The session received over 80 abstracts, and had three oral presentation sections and one poster section. Hamish D Pritchard from NERC British Antarctic Survey and Walter W. Immerzeel from Utrecht University were invited to deliver a keynote speech on “Asia’s shrinking glaciers are regionally important buffer against drought” and a highlighted talk on “Large scale changes in snow persistence on the Third Pole”, respectively.

During the sessions, participants shared their current research results and progress related to Third Pole studies. The meeting provided a platform to promote TPE program and explore opportunities for further cooperation with international scientists.