A meeting on“stereo observation and inversion of the key parameters of global carbon cycle” was held on July 8 to summarize the mid-term advances of the program.A meeting on the “stereo observation and inversion of the key parameters of global carbon cycle” was held on July 8 to summarize the mid-term advances of the program.

Chinese scientists launched a giant aerostat, a helium-filled tethered balloon, called Jimu-1 on Thursday morning to observe atmospheric water vapor at a record altitude of 7,003 meters in the Nam Co region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Jimu-1 is the first of three Chinese made aerostats that will be tasked with collecting more accurate atmospheric data to be used in studying climate change and sustainable development in the region, according to the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the balloon's manufacturer and operator.

AIR has recently launched a one-month renovating campaign on the “National Calibration and Validation Site for High Resolution Remote Sensors” (or “Baotou site” in short) , specifically on the artificial optical targets of the site to address such problems as thinning gravel layer and spreading weeds, which may decrease spectral performance and spatial uniformity of the targets.

Recently, based on the Directional Polarization Camera (DPC) onboard GF-5 satellite, the first global high-resolution (3.3 km) map of fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AODf) over land has been obtained together by the Aerospace Information Research Institute, and the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, the manufacturer of DPC sensor，and other institutes. This AODf remote sensing observation dataset has the highest spatial resolution in the world. It can reflect the spatial information of major air pollutants (PM2.5, etc.) and provide basic information for atmospheric scientists to "unveil" global haze distribution.

A Chinese-Polish joint program is launched recently to develop technologies and methods for real-time space weather monitoring based on BDS, Galileo and GPS. The program is co-led by the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) in Chinese side, together with its Polish counterpart, the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, and is financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China.

AIR has led an international Dust Aerosol Observation (DAO) field campaign in Kashgar this April, aiming to develop a system for monitoring, early warning and emergency response of heavy haze and dust storm episodes along the Belt and Road region.The campaign integrating in-situ and remote sensing observations based on passive and active technologies, has provided high quality dataset of physical, chemical, and optical properties and radiative effects of aerosols in this region.