Cele Desert Research Station - China

Cele station has a geographic coordinate of 80°43′45″E, 37°00′57″N with altitude of 1318 m a.s.l., and covers 130 ha. The distance from station to Cele county, Hotan, Urumqi and Beijing is approximately 7.5, 100, 1500 and 4500 km, respectively.The Cele Desert Research Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences is located in Cele county at the southern rim of Taklimakan desert. In early 1980s, the distance from the Cele county to the forefront of aklimakan desert was only 1.5 km. In order to cope with the severe desertification threat to the city, Xinjiang Autonomous Region government organized the onsite meeting and decided to establish the research station.he climate is continental, with cold winters and hot dry summers. Mean annual temperature is 11.9 ◦C, the desert is hyper arid with mean annual precipitation of 35.1 mm and potential evaporation rate of 2595.3 mm. The snowmelt on Kunlun mountain is a predominant water supply source for this area. Additionally, sand storm disasters are very common occurring on an average of 20 days a year while lowing sand and suspended dust occurs around 240 days a year. These situations have resulted in a fragile ecosystem in the region. The Gobi and desert ccount for 95% of the total area. The coverage of natural vegetation, which is dominated by perennial desert plants, is less than 15%.