当代自然地理学态势

New perspectives on physical geography

认识自然地理学的发展态势,有助于把握学术前沿。当代自然地理学不仅研究组成自然环境的各个要素及其相互作用,研究空间过程和区域差异,也研究随时间进程而发生的各种过程及其中的各种关系,将一定时间或空间尺度上获得的结果推演到其他尺度,将自然地理学的研究成果应用于解决实际的资源、环境管理问题。国际自然地理学的新领域可以概括为自然地理系统、自然地理过程、景观与环境变化、人类活动与环境变化、全球自然地理学和文化自然地理学。中国现代自然地理学源于本土地理学并受欧美地理学和俄罗斯地理学的影响,在满足国家和社会需求方面表现突出,但在学术思想、理论和方法方面,独立的建树和自主创新尚待加强。我国自然地理学未来发展趋势是走向更加综合、站在全球变化的高度、走向更深入地揭示关键过程及其动态变化的机理机制、更加重视高新技术的运用、更加密切地为实现区域可持续发展服务,并需要加强科学思维、科学方法和科学工具的研究和创新。

In response to contemporary global environmental change and its impact on human society, and promoted by the development of other disciplines, physical geography has taken on a new look. Understanding the new situation of physical geography helps to grasp the academic front. Contemporary physical geography not only researches various elements of the natural environment, their interactions and composition, and their spatial process and regional differentiation, but also studies variety of processes and their various relationships with the passage of time, infers results at a certain temporal or spatial scale to other scales, and applies the research results to solve practical resources and environmental management issues. The new fields of international physical geography can be summed up as physical geographical system, physical geographical process, landscape and environmental change, human activity and environmental change, global physical geography and cultural physical geography. Modern physical geography in China grows from the traditional Chinese geography and is impacted by geographical disciplines of Europe-America and Russia. Generally speaking, physical geography in China has moved from empirical science into experimental science, from the macro structure research to the research of macro pattern combining micro process and mechanism, from the research of elements and process separation to integrated studies. It has achieved good progress in comprehensive study of physical geography, the natural process of surface studies, urban and regional development research, and basic research application-oriented to social reality. Physical geography in China has outstanding performance in meeting the national and social need, but the independent contribution and self-innovation inadequate in academic thinking, theory and methods. This situation is not proportionate with the unique physical geographical advantages of China, and not proportionate with the vast research team of physical geography in China. Every major breakthrough in the development course of science and technology began with innovations in new ideas, new theories, new methods and their applications. Lack of innovation awareness and systematic research of scientific ideas and methods has been not only severely restricting the innovation capability of physical geography in China, but also limiting the ability of solving practical problems. In the future, Chinese physical geography will have a trend towards more comprehensive and more global perspectives, as well as a deeper discovering of key processes and their dynamics and mechanism, more application of high-technology, and closer serving for regional sustainable development. One of the important tasks is to strengthen the research and innovation of scientific thinking, scientific methods and scientific tools.