People who have ever been to Tibet must be obsessed with the almost touchable blue sky and white clouds there, but for Dolkar, the first Tibetan female doctor in meteorology, sky in Tibet is ever changing.

The young intellect, with round face and bright eyes, has lived her own life story from a little Tibetan girl growing to be a beautiful and knowledgeable meteorologist.

Dolkar comes from an ordinary Tibetan family of four people. Her parents are ordinary workers and her elder brother is a driver. 

In 2006, Dolkar won China Young Women Scientists’ Award. At that time, she was only 34, and she was the youngest winner then. Many people would reckon that she must have decided to be a meteorologist when she was young, but Dolkar told that she came to this field only by chance. Her very first dream was to be a teacher.

For Dolkar, memories of a snow disaster in Nagqu in 1990s are still fresh to her. She says, “That severe snow disaster has had great touch on my heart. At that time I strongly wished if I could do my best to forecast weather change precisely, the lives and properties of my fellow people could be protected.”

Life is usually not that easy for meteorologists, especially young ones. Many of her classmates changed their major or got other different jobs in 1994 (Dolkar’s graduate year for bachelor’s), but Dolkar didn’t.

Instead, she continued to study further in meteorology. In 2002, she got her PhD degree for meteorology from Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

For Dolkar, she knows clearly what her job means to the people and the importance of weather prediction, especially weather changes in her hometown.

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau covers nearly one quarter of China’s land area, where the climate is unique and complicated. The location of the place decides its greater influence over the meteorological change of eastern China and East Asia.

As to climate change, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is also a crucial area. Warnings against global climate change can be obtained earlier by monitoring and analyzing climate and environment change on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Dolkar says, “I’m proud of being a meteorologist and also a Tibetan, not only for what I could do for my hometown, but also for Tibet’s long history and unique culture landscapes. Tibetan people are warm-hearted, honest, courageous and hard-working.”

In her spare time, Dolkar enjoys singing with her friends. She is good at Tibetan songs, pop songs and English songs. She also studied playing the guitar during college and her favorite is “The Outside World”. She likes playing basketball, too.

Dolkar works in Lhasa while her husband works in northwest Tibet’s Nagri. It takes two days for them to see each other even by off-road vehicle. She says they are a good match with their complementary personalities though not seeing each other that much. In daily life, Dolkar teaches her husband computer and English, while her husband helps her in other aspects.