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The Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchanges (GEWEX) project was created more than 30 years ago within the framework of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The aim of this initiative was to address major gaps in our understanding of Earth's energy and water cycles given a lack of information about the basic fluxes and associated reservoirs of these cycles. GEWEX sought to acquire and set standards for climatological data on variables essential for quantifying water and energy fluxes and for closing budgets at the regional and global scales. In so doing, GEWEX activities led to a greatly improved understanding of processes and our ability to predict them. Such understanding was viewed then, as it remains today, essential for advancing weather and climate prediction from global to regional scales. GEWEX has also demonstrated over time the importance of a wider engagement of different communities and the necessity of international collaboration for making progress on understanding and on the monitoring of the changes in the energy and water cycles under ever increasing human pressures. This paper reflects on the first 30 years of evolution and progress that has occurred within GEWEX. This evolution is presented in terms of three main phases of activity. Progress toward the main goals of GEWEX is highlighted by calling out a few achievements from each phase. A vision of the path forward for the coming decade, including the goals of GEWEX for the future, are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique characteristics of land–air coupling and troposphere–stratosphere interaction over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the highest landform in the world, play a vital role in weather and climate on regional and global scales. Although a great deal of research has been carried out, large gaps remain in our understanding of TP land–air coupling and its climate effects, due to a lack of observations and the issue of model biases. To address these obstacles, a 10-yr national research program entitled "Changes in the Land–Air Coupled System over the Tibetan Plateau and its Impacts on Global Climate (LASTPIC)" was launched by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in January 2014. What LASTPIC does revolves around three aspects: TP land–air coupled processes; TP's influence on global climate; and reanalysis and model. This paper mainly focuses on the data collection, scientific understanding, and model development of LASTPIC in terms of TP land–atmosphere–ocean coupling and its global climate impacts since program's inception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]