China’s glaciers shrink 18 percent in six decades

World Today

Climate change has shrunk Chinese glaciers by more than 18 percent in the past six decades, a premier research center said.

China’s nearly 50,000 glaciers, spread over snow-capped mountain ranges in its vast west, cover a total area of 52,000 square kilometers (559,721 square feet). That’s down 18.5 percent from the late 1950s, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in an update of the country’s glacier inventory.

After eight years of field research, CAS glaciologist Qin Dahe warned that more than 240 sq. km (2,583 sq. ft) of Chinese glaciers are disappearing every year. Though glacial melt-off has boosted availability of some watersheds, it is expected to diminish fresh water supplies in the long term, Qin said.

The Altai Mountains in China’s dry northwest and the Gangdise Mountains of the southwestern Tibetan Plateau saw the greatest glacial recessions, with their ice reserve decreasing by 37 percent and 33 percent respectively.

This story is compiled with information from the CCTV News Content.