By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) – China lost its glacier cover by at least 26% over the past six decades, a report has revealed.
From 2008 to 2020, the glacier area decreased by around 6%, according to the report from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, made public last week.
The institute conducted the first and second Chinese glacier inventories in 2002 and 2014, while the third was conducted in 2023, using 2020 as the baseline year to document current glacial conditions.
Kang Shichang, the lead researcher of the project, noted that China's glaciers once covered about 46,000 square kilometers, comprising approximately 69,000 individual glaciers.
However, a UNESCO report, Vanishing Glaciers, published in January, highlights that China is using technology to address glacier melting, including thermal blankets and artificial snow-making techniques.
The Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering in Lanzhou, located in northwestern China, has conducted experiments on glaciers such as the Dagu Glacier in the Hengduan Mountains (southwest China) and Urumqi Glacier No. 1 in the eastern Tian Shan Mountains (northwest China).
"Exciting progress has been made," the report said. On the Dagu Glacier, located 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) above sea level, a 500-square-meter trial area was covered with specially designed geotextiles.
These “glacier blankets” provided thermal insulation and effectively suppressed the absorption of shortwave radiation, increasing the glacier's albedo. As a result, the melt rate was reduced by approximately 34% between August 2020 and October 2021.
Additionally, the use of nanofiber materials, with their unique optical and electrical properties, has helped reduce the melting rate by as much as 70% during the summer months.