The Chinese Meridian Project (CMP) and the International Meridian Circle Program (IMCP): Overview, Progress, and Achievements

WANG Chi; XU Jiyao; ZHANG Qinghe; WANG Jiangyan; REN Liwen; YANG Fang

doi:10.11728/cjss2026.04.2026-yg07

The Chinese Meridian Project (CMP) and the International Meridian Circle Program (IMCP): Overview, Progress, and Achievements

doi: 10.11728/cjss2026.04.2026-yg07 cstr: 32142.14.cjss.2026-yg07

National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190

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Author Bio:
The Director of the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and an Academician of CAS and the International Academy of Astronautics. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1990 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998. His research focuses on space physics and space weather. He currently serves as Chief Scientist of Phase IV of China’s Lunar Exploration Program, the Chinese Principal Investigator of the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission, and Commander-in-Chief of Phase II of the Chinese Meridian Project. His honors include the Special Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the Qian Xuesen Outstanding Contribution Award, and the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of the Chinese Geoscience Union. E-mail: cw@spaceweather.ac.cn

摘要

Abstract: The National Major Scientific and Technological Infrastructure — the Chinese Meridian Project (CMP) — completed its Phase II acceptance and integration with Phases I in March 2025, and has since entered full operation. The project employs a detection architecture consisting of “one chain, three networks, and four focuses”, deploying 282 monitoring instruments across 31 stations within China’s territory and at both poles. This forms a grid-like comprehensive ground-based network monitoring the geospace environment along 100°E, 120°E, 30°N, and 40°N. Currently, this project has the world's most extensive, comprehensive, and capable such network. The data it acquires are openly shared globally, supporting worldwide cutting-edge scientific research on space weather and its warning/forecasting. This article highlights research advances achieved over the past two years using the CMP data, and briefly introduces the International Meridian Circle Program, which is currently being promoted and initiated based on the CMP.
- Chinese Meridian Project /
- International Meridian Circle Program /
- Solar-interplanetary space /
- Ionosphere /
- Middle and upper atmosphere
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