China's glacier area shrinks by 26 percent over six decades

Surveyor Zhang Yong (left) and colleagues operate a ground-penetrating radar device to conduct a routine observation on the Aemye Ma-chhen Glacier in Qinghai province on March 19. (LI YALONG/FOR CHINA DAILY)

The glacier area in China has shrunk by about 26 percent over the past 60 years, with approximately 7,000 small glaciers disappearing, according to data from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The findings were released on Friday, the first World Day for Glaciers, as researchers presented China's third glacier inventory at the 3rd Chinese Conference of Cryospheric Science in Lingshui, Hainan province.

The data shows that around 2020, China's total glacier area was about 46,000 square kilometers, with roughly 69,000 glaciers. Comparing the country's first glacier inventory — conducted between 1960 and 1980 — with its third, the glacier area has decreased by 4.8 percent per decade.

Between the second inventory completed in 2008 and the third, the glacier area has declined by about 6 percent — equivalent to 5.2 percent per decade — indicating a rapid acceleration in glacier retreat in recent years.

Global glacier inventory efforts began in 1978, focusing on the distribution and volume of mountain glaciers. China's first and second glacier inventories were published in 2002 and 2014, respectively, with research detailing changes in the country's glaciers from the latter half of the 20th century to the early 21st century.

China launched its first glacier inventory in 1978, led by academician Shi Yafeng, as countries with glacier distributions worldwide began compiling their own inventories. The process took 24 years and was completed in 2002.

The first inventory recorded about 46,000 glaciers in China, covering roughly 59,000 square kilometers.

With global temperatures rising, China's glaciers have continued to shrink, according to the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources.

To further assess glacier distribution after 2000, the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began the second inventory in 2007, publishing the data set in 2014. The results showed that by 2008, China had around 48,000 glaciers covering about 52,000 square kilometers.

China is the only major country with a significant glacier distribution to have completed three comprehensive glacier inventories, according to the institute.