The Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Qinghai Province has established the ecological environment monitoring system recently which covering Sanjiangyuan National Park(Sanjiangyuan in brief, namely the source of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Lancang River).

By means of high tech methods, observers could remotely monitor ecological conditions across the entire Sanjiangyuan region of 120 thousand sqm in just one day.  

The system relies on over dozens of long-distance high-resolution lenses from thousands of miles away. It was independently developed by China and used for the first time in alpine-cold areas with the altitude of more than 4,000 meters.

Using the large monitoring screen, wild animals within 15 km of the lenses could be visible down to each hair of their fur. The system also features a remote satellite-imaging system, helping the researchers conduct more accurate analyses.  

When the workers at the center turned on the screen to Mount Yuzhu, at an altitude of 6178 meters, in the source region of the Yangtze River, the texture of the glaciers was clearly visible on-screen and looked spectacular.

The screen then switched over to the Longbao National Nature Conservation Zone, where several black-necked cranes were grazing.

When the screen captured the Lancang River Canyons, at 3800 meters altitude, a big cypress forest could be seen. The workers explained that these trees are living fossils for the field of botany; they are at the highest altitude in the world for such trees.   

"Using this system greatly improves the research efficiency for basic ecology of the Sanjiangyuan region,” technicians at the Ecological Environment Monitoring Center of Qinghai Province said. The monitoring sites they chose are all based on typical ecological zones. By analyzing pictures details in different years and seasons, the researchers could roughly gather the change patterns of the ecology and climate.  

Sanjiangyuan plays an critical role in ecology and it features characteristics of “Genetic Database of Plateau Wild Life.”