The ninth Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) opened Tuesday in Beijing.

About 1,300 scientists and experts from 82 countries will participate in the 10-day academic discussion.

The topics in the discussion will include global warming, sea level rise, sand storms, tsunamis, extreme climate incidents, air pollution and the climate scenarios in the coming hundred years.

The climate changes have posed great threat to the humankind, including global warming, environmental pollution and water resources shortage, and people are eager to know how the earth's climate is changing and how people could cope with it and the meteorologists are the right persons to answer the questions, said Guanhua, Chinese Science and Technology Minister.

The ninth assembly was initiated by the IAMAS and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and sponsored by departments and institutions including China Association for Science and Technology, China Academy of Sciences and China Meteorological Administration. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)