As a consequence of global warming and an enhanced water cycle, the climate changed in northwest China, most notably in the Xinjiang area in the year 1987. Precipitation, glacial melt water and river runoff and air temperature increased continuously during the last decades, as did also the water level of inland lakes and the frequency of flood disasters. As a result, the vegetation cover is improved, number of days with sand-dust storms reduced. From the end of the 19th century to the 1970s, the climate was warm and dry, and then changed to warm and wet. The effects on northwest China can be classified into three classes by using the relation between precipitation and evaporation increase. If precipitation increases more than evaporation, runoff increases and lake water levels rise. We identify regions with: (1) notable change, (2) slight change and (3) no change. The future climate for doubled CO 2 concentration is simulated in a nested approach with the regional climate model-RegCM2. The annual temperature will increase by 2.7 • C and annual precipitation by 25%. The cooling effect of aerosols and natural factors will reduce this increase to 2.0 • C and 19% of precipitation. As a consequence, annual runoff may increase by more than 10%.

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A two-crystal assembly was deployed on the tangential X-ray crystal spectrometer to measure both helium-like and hydrogen-like spectra on EAST. High-quality helium-like and hydrogen-like spectra were observed simultaneously for the first time on one detector for a wide range of plasma parameters. Profiles of line-integrated core ion temperatures inferred from two spectra were consistent. Since tungsten was adopted as the upper divertor material, one tungsten line (W XLIV at 4.017 Å) on the short-wavelength side of the Lyman-α line (Lα1) was identified for typical USN discharges, which was diffracted by a He-like crystal (2d = 4.913 Å). Another possible Fe XXV line (1.85 Å) was observed to be located on the long-wavelength side of resonance line (w), which was diffracted from a H-like crystal (2d = 4.5622 Å) on the second order. Be-like argon lines were also observable that fill the detector space between the He-like and H-like spectra.

During the past two years, key parts of poloidal and tangential x-ray imaging crystal spectrometers (PXCSs and TXCSs) have been upgraded. For poloidal XCSs, double-crystals of ArXVII and FeXXV were deployed. For fulfilling in situ alignment of a poloidal XCS, the beryllium window must be flexibly removed. By utilizing a design, where the beryllium window was installed in the vacuum chamber of the double-crystal, and between the double-crystal and wall of this chamber, an in situ alignment for the two spectrometers was fulfilled. Also, a new holder for the double-crystal was installed to allow for precise adjustments of azimuth angle and vertical height of the double-crystal. In order to facilitate these adjustments of double-crystal and installation of beryllium window, the chamber of the double-crystal for PXCS was upgraded from a cylinder to a cuboid. The distance between double-crystal and magnetic axis was extended from 8936 mm to 9850 mm in order to improve spatial resolution for PXCS, which is currently in the range from 1.237 mm to 4.80 mm at magnetic axis. Furthermore, a new pixelated detector (PILATUS 900K), which has a large sensitive area of 83.8 × 325.3 mm and which is vacuum compatible, is being implemented on the PXCS. This detector is mounted on a rail, so that its position can be changed by 50 mm to effectively record spectra of He-like argon and He-like iron (ArXVII and FeXXV). Similarly, a rail, which allows detector movement by 50 mm, was also installed in TXCS to alternatively record spectra of ArXVII and ArXVIII. Presently, the operation duration of PXCS and TXCS has been upgraded to hundreds of seconds in one shot. T- and u-profiles measured by TXCS and charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) were compared and found to be in good agreement.

A two-crystal X-ray spectrometer system has been implemented in the EAST tokamak to simultaneously diagnose high- and low-temperature plasmas using He- and H-like argon spectra. But for future fusion devices like ITER and Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR), argon ions become fully stripped in the core and the intensity of the H-like lines will be significantly at high temperatures (Te > 5 keV). With increasing auxiliary heating power on EAST, the core plasma temperature could also reach 5 keV and higher. In such conditions, the use of a xenon puff becomes an appropriate choice for both ion-temperature and flow-velocity measurements. A new two-crystal system using a quartz 110 crystal (2d = 4.913 Å) to view He-like argon lines and a quartz 011 crystal (2d = 6.686 Å) to view Ne-like xenon spectra has been deployed on a poloidal X-ray crystal spectrometer. While the He-like argon spectra will be used to measure the plasma temperature in the edge plasma region, the Ne-like xenon spectra will be used for measurement in the hot core. The new crystal arrangement allows a wide temperature measurement ranging from 0.5 to 10 keV or even higher, being the first tests for burning plasmas like ITER and CFETR. The preliminary result of lab-tests, Ne-like xenon lines measurement will be presented.