COLD AND ARID REGIONS ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The Cold and Arid Regions Environmental andEngineering Research Institute(CAREERI) wascreated in June 1999 as a result of the current PilotRroject of the Knowledge Innovation Program of theChinse Academy of Sciences (CAS). Formed onthe basis of three former CAS institutes,namely, theLanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology,the Lanzhou Institute of Desert Studies, and

Soliciting Contributions to a Special Issue of "Current Research on Atmospheric Aerosols and Trace Gases over the Polar Regions" in Advances in Polar Science

Dear Colleagues, We would like to invite you to submit manuscripts to a special issue entitled ＂Current Research on Atmospheric Aerosols and Trace Gases over the Polar Regions＂ of the Journal Advances in Polar Science （APS）. APS is an international, peer-reviewed journal jointly sponsored by the Polar Research Institute of China （PRIC） and the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration （CAA）. It is a quarterly journal published in March, June, September and December by Science Press of China and circulated internationally （ISSN 1674-9928, CN 31-2050/P）. Articles published in APS are free of charge with generous funding from PRIC. For more details, please visit the APS＇s websites. Thank you in advance for your consideration to submit manuscripts to this special issue, and we encourage you to share this announcement broadly with interested colleagues.

RESEARCH ON THE THEORY AND METHODS OF COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF REGIONAL COAL RESOURCES

consists of forecasting for the total reserves of regional mineral resources and evaluation,compreIn general,based on evaluated objects and factors involved,evaluation of mineral resources hensive evaluation of regional mineral resources, and economic and technical evaluation of deposits. Here a region can be a country, a province, or a mining area, while a deposit is mainly related to a single type of mineral, although it can contain more than one types of minerals. In the past, to assess mineral resources was primarily to evaluate and forecast the total reserves of regional mineral resources. With the advancement of science, technology, and economy, the evaluation of mineral resources has developed from forecasting the reserves of them to comprehensively evaluating them on the basis of numerous factors.

Landscape Ecology:Coupling of Pattern,Process,and Scale

Landscape ecology provides new theoretical frameworks and methodologies for understanding complex ecological phenomena at multiple scales.Studies of landscape ecology focus on understanding the dynamics of eco-logical patterns and processes,and highlight the integration of multiple disciplines.In this paper,we discussed the problems and challenges that landscape ecology is currently facing,emphasizing the limitations of current methods used to describe dynamic landscape patterns and processes.We suggested that the focus should be on the integration of ground-based observation,mobile monitoring,transect survey,and remote-sensing monitoring,as well as improved coupling of experimental and model simulations.In addition,we outlined the research frontiers in landscape ecology,including scaling,integrated pattern and process modeling,and regional synthesis.Lastly,a brief review of pat-tern-process-scale coupling studies in China was provided.We concluded by pointing out that pattern-process-scale interactions,correlations between natural,economic,and social processes,and the coupling of human and natural systems will be major research areas in landscape ecology in the future.