Earth's 'cold storage': Glacier conservation and global action

Editor's note: Glaciers are a vital component of the climate system, profoundly influencing global climate change and serving as crucial recorders and early warning systems. They play an essential role in maintaining global climate balance, providing freshwater resources, and supporting ecosystems. However, due to the impact of global warming, glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate. The 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation (IYGP) and designating March 21 each year, starting from 2025, as the World Day for Glaciers. Wang Feiteng, a researcher at the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering, and director of the Tianshan Glaciological Station, has been engaged in glacier research for 20 years. In this article, he shares his memorable field observations from annual scientific expeditions, as well as his reflections and recommendations in the field of glacier research and conservation. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Since joining glacier research in 2005, I have ventured into the field nearly every year to observe and document changes in glacier length, area and other key aspects. Two decades of firsthand experience have allowed me to witness the dramatic retreat of glaciers, with many small glaciers completely disappearing. For example, during my first expedition to the No. 1 Glacier at the headwaters of the Urumqi River in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2005, the area between its eastern and western branches was still covered in thick snow. Today, the mountain is exposed due to the glacier's annual retreat of 5 to 8 meters, turning once-pristine observation points into bare rock or glacial debris. Similarly, the No. 17 Glacier in Dagu, Sichuan Province, has shrunk from 0.05 square kilometers in 2020 to just 0.03 square kilometers by 2024. It is expected to split into two smaller glaciers within two years and may disappear entirely before 2030. These changes not only highlight the loss of data but also underscore the profound impact of global warming on the ecological environment.

Eighty percent of China's glaciers are small, particularly those under one square kilometer, which are highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Recent research from the Tianshan Glaciological Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that, regardless of future climate changes or increased precipitation, glaciers smaller than 0.5 square kilometers in northwest China's arid regions will disappear by mid-century. This prediction, based on long-term data and glacier dynamics models, suggests that the retreat of China's glaciers has entered an irreversible phase, with significant implications for regional water supply, ecological stability, and the risk of geological disasters.

In response to the accelerating glacier melt, the Chinese government launched the integrated protection and systematic management project for "mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, deserts and ice" in 2021. The inclusion of "ice" in this initiative reflects a deeper recognition of the shared fate between humanity and nature. China has implemented various measures, with the most crucial being energy conservation and emission reduction to curb temperature rise. Other measures include:

a) Establishing a glacier monitoring network, including the State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and the Tianshan Glaciological Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, employs satellite remote sensing, drone mapping and ground-based observations to enable real-time monitoring.

b) Developing glacier simulation and prediction models to improve the ability to forecast future glacier evolution and its impacts.

c) Establishing glacier nature reserves, such as the Qomolangma National Nature Reserve and the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, to minimize direct human impact.

d) Optimizing water resource management by building reservoirs and improving inter-basin water transfer projects to address the temporal and spatial variations in glacier meltwater, thereby mitigating future water shortages.

Some artificial intervention measures are currently in the experimental stage, such as surface coverings and artificial snow augmentation which provide effective physical protection by enhancing glacier reflectivity and mass in high-altitude regions. Experimental data show that these methods can slow the melting rate by 35 to 70 percent, but due to high costs, they are challenging to implement on a large scale.

Suggestions for addressing the challenges

a) Enhancing international collaboration in glacier research and conservation, sharing academic achievements, and jointly exploring new avenues for scientific research, technological innovation and global cooperation to support glacier conservation efforts.

b) Promoting the dissemination of glacier protection knowledge and public science education to raise global awareness of the vital role glaciers play in the climate system and hydrological cycle, while addressing the urgent challenges posed by the accelerated melting of glaciers.

c) Strengthen ice core research. Ice cores, cylindrical samples drilled from glaciers, contain climate data spanning thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, earning them the title "time capsules." For example, ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica trace back 800,000 years, while those from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau reflect 10,000 years of climate evolution in Asia. Ice cores are essential for glacier protection, helping to reconstruct past climates, improve future climate predictions, assess the impact of glacier retreat on water resources and optimize water management. They also provide pollution data for environmental monitoring and can aid in predicting natural disasters like avalanches and glacial lake outbursts, enhancing disaster prevention in mountainous regions.

d) Strengthen cross-border climate governance and data sharing. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have greatly enhanced glacier monitoring, prediction and disaster warning. AI can analyze remote sensing images and drone data, improving monitoring efficiency, while integrating climate data to predict glacier melting trends. It can also optimize early warning systems for glacial lake outburst floods and support carbon reduction policies. Moving forward, establishing a global AI-driven glacier monitoring network will enable real-time monitoring, data sharing and informed decision-making, promoting green development, slowing glacier melting and supporting global ecological sustainability.

Glacier melting presents numerous challenges, the most significant of which is its irreversibility. Even if global temperature rise is controlled, some small glaciers may be beyond restoration. Meanwhile, artificial intervention technologies remain in the exploratory stage, and long-term monitoring and ecological restoration require substantial financial investment, making practical implementation difficult. However, glacier melting is not only a symptom of environmental change, but also a direct warning of global warming's impact on human society. Strengthening global climate governance and promoting sustainable development have become critical issues that humanity must address collectively.

(Cover: The Mingyong Glacier in Yunnan Province, southwest China. /VCG)