glaciers

Located in the province of Sichuan, just 300 kilometers from Chengdu, the Dagu glacier offers such fabulous landscapes that every year it receives several hundred thousand tourists. They come from other parts of the country or the planet to enjoy the snow and the views from their cable car. For scientists, however, Dagu is more than just a white paradise. In his opinion it looks more like a “terminally ill”a patient they must care for to avoid (or at least delay) the fatal outcome: the slow and unstoppable loss of ice due to climate change. For this purpose, a group of Chinese researchers has had a curious idea, to say the least: ‘covering’ part of the glacier with a gigantic blanket. A threatened paradise. Dagu is more than a glacier the tibetan plateau full of landscapes instagrammable. It is also a fundamental piece in the region’s economy. The enormous mass of ice attracts more than 200,000 tourists per year, which keeps an industry that employs thousands of people, and its melting supplies the populations with drinking water and even energy thanks to hydroelectric generation. Neither one nor the other has stopped scientists from referring to Dagu as a “dying glacier” or “a terminal patient.” Thus, in such a heartbreaking way, he defined it a few months ago Wang Feiteng, glacier expert and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Is your condition that serious? The data are certainly not encouraging. In an article published in 2025, the Chinese organization recalls that since the 1960s its ice has “fragmented into scattered remains” and the frozen surface of the glacier has been reduced more than noticeably. And the trend does not seem to ease. “During the last four years the terminal end retreated another 20 meters,” warn from the academy, which insists that if nothing stops the process the situation of the glacier will be critical and irreversible at the end of this same decade. “Without urgent intervention, the Dagu glacier will disappear by 2029.” Beyond Dagu. The Chinese academy is not the only one to warn of the degradation of the environment. In 2003 Bloomberg dedicated him a chronicle in which he already pointed out that in the last half century alone the glacier has lost more than 70% of its ice. Regarding the reason, researchers have few doubts: The retreat of the ice mass is explained by the climate and the increase in temperatures. The problem is actually much bigger. Dagu may be one of the most vulnerable, but China has many other glaciers spread across its vast geography. Many. It is estimated that about 69,000, the tenth part of the glacial mass of every planet. And only between 2008 and 2020 its frozen surface receded by about 6%. If we broaden the perspective, since the 60s it has shrunk 26%. A blanket for the sick. Dagu’s situation may be critical, but… “As a doctor, can one just walk away?” he wonders Wang Feiteng. Convinced that the answer is ‘no’, a few years ago he and his colleagues decided to apply a striking strategy on the Tibetan glacier. They are dedicated to covering part of their frozen surface with a blanket that protects it (at least in part) from the effects of global warming, slowing down the loss of ice. It may sound strange, but the key is in the physical properties of that ‘protective quilt’. What they use are “glacial blankets”layers that stand out for their reflective capacity and provide thermal insulation, minimize the absorption of shortwave radiation and improve the albedo of the glacier, that is, the proportion of reflected solar radiation. The result? Less ice loss. The technique is not exactly new. It is inspired by what they already wear decades doing the ski resorts of Austria or Switzerland to protect the snow, although the approach does change. The idea was put into practice in Dagu in 2020 with six rolls of white cloth covering a selected area of around 500 m2. And does it work? It seems so. The program has been attractive enough to attract the attention of UNESCO, which a year ago published an article by professors Kang Shichang and Du Wentao, both linked to the CAS, in which some results of the experiment are described. To begin with, experts have found that the melting rate in the area covered by the glacial blanket was reduced by 34% between 2020 and 2021. “Even a year after removing the fabric, the area melted 15% slower due to the extra ice,” clarify from the CAS. The scientists were not limited to Dagu. In an attempt to go further, they used “more advanced nanomaterials” to cover a section of the Urumqi glacierin the Tian Shan Mountains. Thanks to the use of nanofibers, the researchers claim that they have managed to reduce the melting rate up to 70% in summer. The key is in a new material that, according to a team from Nanjing University, is capable of reflecting more than 93% of sunlight and dissipates the heat to which glaciers are exposed, reducing ice loss. Not everything is advantages. The results They are hopeful, but they leave some questions raised and also have limitations, such as recognize Kang Schichang and Du Wentao: “Covering glaciers with blankets has been mostly applied to small, tourism-focused glaciers on the brink of disappearance. While it has been proven effective in slowing their retreat, it poses environmental risks, high costs, and can only be applied in small environments. Large-scale retreat of glaciers cannot be addressed using nanomaterials alone.” The Chinese Academy itself recognize that Dagu is “an atypical case”, since unlike most of the glaciers in China, which are remote and difficult to access, this one “is located in the center of an urbanized tourist destination, which has electricity and access to water all year round.” That’s important for several reasons. First, because it has generated an infrastructure that makes it easier to deploy programs such as blankets or the … Read more