Climate Exchange

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Climate services for large

engineering projects in China

Song Lianchun, Chao Qingchen, Zhou Botao, Xu Hongmei, Chen Xianyan, Xu Ying

Beijing Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration

arge engineering projects are extremely sensitive to envi-

ronment, especially to climate change and extreme events.

Climate factors have been key influences on the secure

design, investment cost and operational profit of engineering

projects. Climate change can alter the current status of water

cycle and energy balance, which in turn results in the change

in the theoretical functional relationship of historical data that

the engineering design is based on, thereby affecting the design

and operational management of the project and the life of the

building materials. Moreover, the intensity of extreme climate

events and probabilistic risks has also become an important

factor restricting the construction of large engineering projects.

Thus, the following are very helpful in promoting the climate adap-

tion of large engineering projects:

• Objectively assessing climate demands during the design,

construction and operational management of the project

• Strengthening tailored climate monitoring, impact assessment

and projection

• Providing effective climate information.

Qinghai-Tibet railway project

The Qinghai-Tibet railway begins in Xining, Qinghai Province in the

north and passes through Golmud before ending in Lhasa, in the

Tibet Autonomous Region. It spans about 1,956 km with

a permafrost length of 632 km, of which continuous

permafrost is about 550 km in length and 82 km is island

discontinuous permafrost.

Permafrost is the foremost challenge facedby theQinghai-

Tibet railway construction project. Most of the permafrost

on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau is warm permafrost which is

ransport

and

nfrastructure

Source: CMA

Changes in the lowest winter temperature (left) and the highest summer temperature (right) over the stations

along the Qinghai-Tibet railway

Image: Qinghai Meteorological Bureau

Adverse impacts of snow cover on the normal railway transport