Xinhua
2014-12-20
China’s glaciers have retreated by 18% since the 1950s, Chinese scientists warned.
A survey taken between 2006 and 2010 using remote sensing data showed China had 48,571 glaciers covering 51,840 square km in its western regions, according to a recent catalog of the country’s glaciers released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The worst shrink was detected on the Altai Mountains located in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Gangdise Mountains in Tibet autonomous region, with retreat amounts hitting 37.2% and 32.7% respectively over the past half century, according to the survey by the CAS Cold and Arid Regions Research Institute.
Major glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, especially the eastern section of the Gangdise and the southern and western Himalayas, were melting at the most rapid pace; with areas experiencing skrinkage of 2.2% every year, according to the survey.
