The kickoff meeting of Project “Sarez Lake Dam Deformation Monitoring based on BeiDou Technology” of International Partnership Program initiated by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) took place at the National Time Service Center, CAS on March 17. Chen Xi, Secretary of Branch Leading Party Group of Xinjiang Branch of the CAS and Director of the Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia (hereinafter referred to as the RCEECA), Lu Xiaochun, Deputy Director of National Time Service Center, and Ning Bolun, Deputy Director of European Office of Bureau of International Cooperation Chinese Academy of Sciences attended the meeting.

This project, as one of the first projects after the implementation of the optimal management scheme of the Overseas Science and Education Cooperation Center of CAS, was organized and recommended by the RCEECA and undertaken by the National Time Service Center; the Project plans to use China’s BeiDou high-precision positioning and communication technology to monitor the deformation of Sarez Lake Dam in Tajikistan and provide important scientific reference for the safety of the dam.

On the kickoff meeting, experts attending the meeting agreed that the project is of great significance, urgent social needs and outstanding innovation, and will play an important role in promoting the application and implementation of China’s BeiDou Technology. Based on a review of the field investigation at the RCEECA and the UAV aerial photography work, the attendees at the meeting had extensive exchanges on the implementation plan, technical route, division of tasks, scheduling, use of funds, etc around the project, had an in-depth discussion on the technical details such as the selection of survey points, construction of foundation piles, construction of network, and the display platform, sorted out and evaded the difficulties and problems that might be encountered in the process of project implementation, and put forward constructive opinions and suggestions.

Wang Guoping, Head of Science & Technology Cooperation Division of Xinjiang Branch of the CAS, Wei Liheng, Head of Finance Division of Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Liu Wenjiang, Executive Deputy Director of the RCEECA, and the key members of the Project Team attended the meeting.

Sarez Lake, located in the Pamir region at an altitude of 3263 meters in eastern Tajikistan, is a natural lake formed by the collapse of a mountain following a powerful earthquake in the region on February 18, 1911. Meanwhile, Tajikistan is in a seismically active area, and in the event of an earthquake, the Sarez Lake Dam will be in danger of bursting its levees and flooding parts of Tajikistan, as well as Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, killing millions of people and destroying the ecological environment in Central Asia with immeasurable loss.

The scene of the meeting

Taking a group photo