China’s rapidly melting glaciers

More than 2,600 glaciers on China’s stark Tibetan plateau are melting at an alarming rate – none more so than the giant Laohugou No. 12


Inset map


Glacier basin boundary

Laohugou No. 12 glacier
(20km2) Flows down two channels before merging into one
Qilian station
Glacier terminus
QILIAN MOUNTAINS
3km 2 miles


Dec 2016


Tibetan Plateau
Qilian Mountains
Beijing 
CHINA
INDIA
1,000km 600 miles


Dec 1984
Melting accelerating since mid-1980s


Researchers at Qilian station say glacier has shrunk by around 7% since 1950, losing 13m of thickness. Terminus has retreated 450m

All 2,684 glaciers in Qilian Mountains are melting – causing floods in spring and
droughts in summer


Sources: Reuters, Yahoo! News, ResearchGate 
Pictures: Google Earth Pro 
© GRAPHIC NEWS