Water resources of glaciers in China

Abstract

China is one of the nations in the world having the most numerous mountain glaciers in the middle and low latitude. In the western part of China a high mountainous area extends for thousands of kilometers in length and breadth from the Yulong snow mountains (27 °N) in Yunan province in the south to the Altay Mountains (49 °N) in Xingjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the north. According to preliminary investigation, the contemporary glacier area in China turns out to be about 56,500 km2 (Ren 1980), nearly 50% of the total mountain gjacial area in central Asia, or 3.5% of the total glacial cover of the world (16,200,000 km2) (The USSR National Committee 1978). In terms of magnificence glaciers in Kulun Mountains take the first place, those in the Himalaya the second, while those in the Altay Mountains are the smallest (Tab 1 ).