An observation station is being built to monitor the melting of the country's longest glacier range at the edge of the world's highest plateau, scientists have said.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will set up the station at the foot of the Qilianshan Mountains, at the northern rim of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, the Science Times reported yesterday.

A file photo of Jianggudiru glacier, the source of the Yangtze River, in Qinghai Province. Shui Xiaojie

A recent study by the CAS Institute of Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering showed the glaciers were significantly receding with global warming.

Qin Xiang, a senior researcher at the institute, said the west section of the mountain range was an ideal place to observe the ecological and environmental systems of the glaciers.

Qi, who was recently named to head the proposed station, said the observation station will track atmospheric conditions, glacial melting, tundra, frozen earth plants and hydrological conditions near the mountains.

The authorities previously organized large-scale scientific surveys of the glaciers in the late 1950s, 1984 and earlier this year.

The latest survey revealed the worst glacial recession appearing at the Yanglonghe glacier No 1 at the Qilianshan Mountains.

It had receded 260 m when compared with data obtained from a similar survey 23 years ago, Liu Shiyin, a principal investigator from the CAS institute, said.

Liu and his research team have completed the latest survey of China's glaciers and their movements in an area covering over 20,000 sq km.

After using radar to measure the thickness of the Qiyi Glacier in the Qilianshan Mountains, he said the whole glacier had been shortened by an average of 19.6 m, with the thickness at its edges reduced by at least 50 m in the past two decades, the newspaper reported.

Liu said the glaciers in the region, said to be the most studied glacial area in the country, had receded 7.4 percent compared with the 1984 measurements.

The Ili River Valley, the Junggar Basin and the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbu River saw the most rapid glacial recession, 18 percent less than those measured in 1984, the newspaper reported.

"The glaciers were significantly reduced by global warming resulting from continuous human-activity-related climate change," Liu said.

He added that the receding glaciers will affect farm irrigation systems and people's livelihood in a vast area covering north and central China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2007)