China on Wednesday launched its first virtual Earth laboratory for the simulation of climate, environmental, ecological, Earth and space weather systems, which can predict climate and environment variability, prevent and mitigate natural disasters more effectively and improve China's right to speak in international climate negotiations. 

The virtual Earth lab, EarthLab, was officially launched in Beijing's Huairou Science City on Wednesday. In partnership with Tsinghua University, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) began developing EarthLab in 2018. After trial operations, inspections and approvals, EarthLab is expected to become fully operational — and open to universities and research institutes across the world — in 2022, according to the CAS. 

EarthLab's research team published an introduction to the facility in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences on Wednesday. 

Guest post from Global Times