Shrinking glaciers in Xinjiang sound climate warming alarms - Xinhua

[Eugene]

Source: Xinhua

Shrinking glaciers in Xinjiang sound climate warming alarms
www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-12 20:39:53

URUMQI, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Researchers in northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said glaciers in the region are
shrinking at alarming speeds and called for artificial measures to
protect them.

Wang Feiteng, an assistant researcher with the Tianshan Mountain
glacier monitoring station under the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS), said the No.1 glacier at Tianshan has lost 20 million cubic
meters of ice in the last four decades, and the east and west
sections of the glacier are receding by 3.5 meters and 5.9 meters
respectively every year.

The glacier, situated 3,545 meters above sea level in the Tianshan
Mountains, the largest glacier area in Xinjiang, separated into two
parts in 1993 as the warmer climate melted some of the ice.

-snip-

Aerial surveys show the total glacier acreage in Xinjiang has shrunk
by 20 percent and snow lines have receded about 60 meters since
1964. CAS statistics show the internal temperature of the glaciers
has risen by 10 percent in the last two decades.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-07/12/content_6366956.htm