Chinanews, Beijing, March 31 - According to the Ministry of Land and Resources, the first glacier database in China was completed recently, after a general investigation on all glaciers.

 

According to the result of the investigation, about 3,248 sq km of glaciers have disappeared in China in the last 40 years, about 5.5% of the total glaciers in the 1960s, and the total volume of ice has dropped by 7%. Averagely, the thickness of glaciers has dropped by 6.5 m.What is worse is that glaciers have been disappearing faster since the 1990s. If nothing is done to stop or slow the process, the rivers with glaciers as their origins will definitely dry up someday in the future.

 

Currently, there are 46,298 glaciers in China, covering some 59,406 sq km. There are about 5,590 cubic kilometers of ice in the glaciers, about 5.031 trillion cubic meters of water if melted. The runoff of glacier water in China should be 61.6 billion cubic meters, according to the calculation of scientists.