Most people know very little about glaciers. However, our daily life is directly impacted by glaciers which store about 75 percent of the world's fresh water. Unfortunately, global warming has accelerated glacier melt to such an extent that over 80% of the world's glaciers could well disappear. This would not only radically reduce the amount of fresh water available to us, but would also trigger natural disasters such as floods, icequakes, and avalanches. Consequently, glacier protection is becoming a growing priority for many countries around the world.

Of all countries in the middle and lower latitudes of the Earth, China has the largest number of mountain glaciers. The ice reserves in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region account for approximately half of China's total glacier reserves. The Urumqi Glacier No. 1 in the Tianshan Mountains is one of the glaciers on the upper reaches of the Urumqi River and a major water source for Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang.

Due to global warming and a greater number of glacier adventure tours in recent years, the melting rate of Glacier No. 1 has accelerated, and since 1993, seven to ten meters of ice are being lost per year. Without human intervention, the glacier could disappear completely in 50 years.

I have been working as a member of the glacier protection team since 2004. Witnessing the heartbreaking retreat of Glacier No. 1, I was determined to find an innovative solution.

In 2016, I joined a team of experts responsible for preparing the snow-making services needed for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In order to store sufficient snow, my team and I covered the snow that fell last winter with insulating and reflective fabrics. We were thus able to store snow for the Winter Olympics Ski Resorts, using a method like putting snow into the refrigerator.

It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I could use this approach for glacier protection. In August 2020, I took my team up to Dagu Glacier in Sichuan Province and to Glacier No. 1 in Xinjiang to conduct experiments on slowing glacier melt.

You might be wondering: Blankets are usually used to keep things warm. How can they be used to cool things down?

The materials used to make glacier blankets are synthesized from high-molecular polymers, such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon, which we call geotextiles. They are highly reflective and insulating, which prevents direct solar radiation and heat loss, thus maintaining relatively low temperatures on the surface of the glacier. The blankets thus act as a shield to slow down the melting of the glaciers.

Glacier protection is not an easy task. It is more than a two-hour drive from the Tianshan Glacier National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station to Glacier No. 1. Parts of the route can be accessed only on foot, with team members having to carry equipment on their backs. It takes six of us a whole day to carry the required geotextiles to the 500m² research area.

We carried out the experiment in summer when rivers at the foot of the glacier are turbulent, and the snow cover on the ice is shallow. This makes the paths exceptionally slippery, posing a great challenge for our journey. Our team members had to carry the two-meter-wide geotextile blankets on our backs, which combined to weigh as much as two hundred and fifty kilograms. Every step challenged the limits of the body. During one journey, we encountered heavy snowfall and strong winds. We had to turn back halfway to protect the materials.

Of course, these experiments are still ongoing. In the three years since August 2020, we have successfully reduced glacier melt by up to fifty percent in the pilot area. Theoretically, if we do well enough, we could extend the glacier's life by forty years. This gives us great hope.

However, even if the experiments done so far could slow down the melting of glaciers, there is no way to protect the glaciers that are inaccessible.

In recent years, the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and related departments have taken a whole series of measures to promote glacier protection, including allocating additional funding for scientific research, recruiting more professionals, and implementing ecological protection projects and water resource management, to ensure that people can enjoy clean water and a healthy and sustainable ecological environment.

Despite all these measures, there is still a long way to go to protect glaciers, and more attention and input is required.

The author is Wang Feiteng, chief manager of the Tianshan Glacier National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Liu Xian /Editor    Chen Yutang /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Ren Qiang /Coordinator

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

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