Glaciers in Asia’s celestial mountains in trouble

Since the early 1960s, glaciers in central Asia’s Tien Shan mountain range have lost roughly 27% of their mass as a result of hotter summer temperatures. By 2050, half of what now remains could be gone, researchers say in a new study published today in Nature Geoscience. Also known as the celestial mountains, the peaks straddle the border between China and Kyrgyzstan and provide most of the region with fresh water. The findings could have important implications for farmers and villagers that rely on snow and glacier melt for irrigation and drinking, the scientists say. And New Scientist reports that the regional study could be helpful in validating estimates from another recent study on global glacier melt. That research—published in the Journal of Glaciology—found that from 2000 to 2010, the world experienced the greatest decadal loss of glacier ice ever measured.

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