Scientists have recently discovered the thickest glacier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (also known as the Tibetan Plateau), which is recognized as Asia’s water tower.
Purog Kangri Glacier. (Source: Reuters).
According to researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), this ice field, with a maximum thickness of nearly 400 meters, is part of the Purog Kangri Glacier located in Tsoyi County, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwest China.
This indicates that the Purog Kangri Glacier is now the thickest glacier on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, surpassing the Guliya Ice Cap in Ngari Province.
Glaciers contain vital information about Earth’s climatic history. Previously, scientists drilled an ice core 308.6 meters deep at Guliya, which formed over 700,000 years ago.
What is a glacier? A glacier, or ice cap, is a perennial ice mass (with a lower density than regular ice) that moves continuously under its own weight. It forms in areas where snow accumulates and exceeds melting over many years, often spanning centuries. What is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau? The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (the Chinese abbreviation for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) or the Tibetan Plateau (25°~40° N, 74°-104° E) is the largest and highest plateau in the world, with an average elevation of over 4,500 meters above sea level. It covers most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in China, as well as Ladakh in Kashmir, India. It stretches across an area approximately 1,000 km wide and 2,500 km long. |
