UMBRELLA heads into Tibet for fieldwork (06/2020).

Back in the field!

The resplendent **Potala Palace** in Lhasa illuminated at night – a fantastic view from our hotel that use as our inital base camp while we acclimatise to the high elveation ~3800 m

While we in the UK languish in lockdown our colleagues in China has returned to Tibet to start fieldwork in the western Gangdese Mountains, SW Tibet. Despite the recent resurgence of the virus in Being an UMBRELLA group from XTBG and Yunnan University recently arrived in Lhasa in preparation for this summer’s fieldwork. The focus will be finding plant fossils to help in our understanding of vegetation and elevation changes in the western Gangdese uplands that formed the mountainous southern border of what is now the Tibetan Plateau long before the rise of the Himalaya. Research has not stopped here is the UK though. We are working from home on running the climate models and writing papers, but we know where we would rather be….

The **Jokhang Temple** looking magical in the evening light in Lhasa. A quite magnificanet temple that should not be missed if visiting Lhasa.

Hopefully this time next year the UK will be back in one of, if not the most beautiful places on Earth.

We hope that under these troubling times that everyone is keeping safe and healthy around the world. UMBRELLA team.