According to a recent investigation by the Chinese Academy of Science Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, glaciers in western China are rapidly becoming smaller because of global warming. The institute specializes in investigating glacier resources and changes.
The glaciers in the Yili River Basin, Zhunger Basin, and upper Yaluzangbu River have shrunk by more than 18 percent; while those of Qilian Mountain and Lancang River have become more than 10 percent smaller.
The institute research has assessed that an area of about 20,000 square kilometers of glaciers has, on average, shrunk by about 7.4 percent over the past five years.
Research has also revealed that the height of the twelfth glacier, Tiger Ditch in Qilian Mountain, with an altitude of 4400 meters, is now 20 to 25 meters shorter. The fifth glacier of Yalong River has shrunk by about 260 meters from the river's end. The Qiyi glacier has become 19.6 meters shorter over the past 23 years. The loss to the end of the glacier exceeds more than 50 meters.
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