No. 1 glacier

--The majestic Tianshan No.1 glacier, known as "the glacier closest to metropolis in the world", is the source of Urumqi River. It is located in the Tianger mountain in the southwest of Urumqi, with an altitude of 3860 meters.

--More than 150 modern glaciers of different sizes are distributed in Glacier No.1, and the remains of ancient glaciers are well preserved, so it is known as "living fossil of glaciers".

--In front of the glacier tongue, you can see the 80 meter long ice cave chiseled by scientific researchers. There are marmots on the surrounding cliffs. Fortunately, we can see snow lotus.

Glacier No.1 at the source of Urumqi River in Tianshan Mountains

synonym

Glacier No.1 generally refers to Glacier No.1 at the source of Urumqi River in Tianshan Mountains

Urumqi Glacier No.1 (Tianshan Mountains) at the headwaters of the Urumqi River in Tianshan Mountains is called Wuyuan Glacier No.1 for short. The glacier is located in Urumqi county, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, about 120 km southwest of Urumqi city. It belongs to the headwater area of Urumqi River on the north slope of TIANGEER mountain. In 1959, the former Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and permafrost of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of cold and arid environment and engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) established the Tianshan glacier observation and research station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the source of the Urumqi River, which made the glacier play an important role in the international glacier research.

landforms

Glacier No. 1 was formed in the third glacial period, with a history of 4.8 million years. Due to the concentration of modern glaciers, typical glacial landforms and sediments, and complete and clear preservation of ancient glacial relics, Glacier No. 1 is known as "living fossil of glaciers" and has become the best place to observe and study modern glaciers and ancient glacial relics in China. The glacial alluvial landform here is very obvious. For geological researchers, we can explore the development process of the Urumqi River in hundreds of millions of years.

Glacier No. 1 is close to the city, convenient transportation, and the ancient glacier remains are well preserved. It is known as "living fossil of glacier". It has become one of the best places to observe and study glaciers in China. Below Glacier No.1, at an altitude of 3500 meters or more, there are ice erosion landscapes such as trough valley, rock ridge, rock basin, iceberg and sheep's back like stone. In the valley at an altitude of 2800 meters or more, the glacial deposits of various periods are preserved. The whole glacier has various shapes of "tongue like glacier front", "pyramid like corner peak" and "arc-shaped glacier end moraine".

scale

Glacier No. 1 is a two branch iceberg valley glacier, 2.4 km long, 500 m wide on average, 1.85 km2 in area, 140 m thick at maximum, 5 m in average annual speed, and 3740 m above sea level at the bottom.

name

In 1959, the former Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and permafrost, Chinese Academy of Sciences, established the Tianshan glacier observation station in TIANGEER mountain, the source of Urumqi River. The "No. 1" in the name of "No. 1 glacier" is derived from the research number of that year.

Although Glacier No.1 split into two branches (two different glaciers) in 1993, it is still used to refer to Glacier No.1 in the headwaters of Urumqi River as its West Branch and East branch.

scientific research

The Tianshan glacier observation and experimental station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (abbreviated as the Tianshan glacier station) is the only field station in China that specializes in observing, testing and studying glaciers and glaciation zones. It was established in 1959 at the initiative of academician Shi Yafeng. In 1988, it was one of the first open stations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1997, it was rated as A-class station in the field station evaluation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At the same time, it was awarded the advanced group of field work. In 1999, it was listed as a national key field station (pilot station).

Tianshan glacier station is the representative observation station of inland glaciers in Central Asia in the international glacier monitoring network. With the strong support and help of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, research institutes and relevant departments, and after years of efforts and construction, a well-known field base for observation, experiment and research has been basically formed at home and abroad.

Tianshan glacier station includes basic station and alpine station. Among them, the basic station is 2130m above sea level and is located in the upper reaches of the Urumqi River between high mountains and valleys, covering an area of about 6000 m2. Gaoshan station is 3545m above sea level, covering an area of about 1000m2, 35km away from the basic station. It is the residence and storage place of logistic equipment for field investigators and station observers. Since the 1990s, the number of glaciers observed by Tianshan glacier station has continued to increase. In addition to Glacier No. 1 at the headwaters of Urumqi River in Tianshan Mountain as the benchmark, Glacier No. 51 at hashilegen in Kuitun River and flat top glacier at Miaoergou in Tianshan Mountain are also involved, forming a complete observation system for the east of Tianshan Mountain, which is in line with the international advanced level of glacier observation.

shrink back

Due to the existence of Tianshan glacier observation and Experiment Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the scientific community and the public have a clear understanding of the retreat of Glacier No. 1, and the related scientific research achievements and news reports are also more extensive.

Xinhua news agency said on July 13, 2010: "the study found that the local annual average ground temperature increased significantly, from - 1.6 ℃ in 1993 to - 1.0 ℃ in 2008. It is estimated that the subsidence depth of permafrost in 2008 is 86.8 meters, which is 7.7 meters less than that in 1992. " "The researchers also found that the change of permafrost active layer is closely related to the water and heat conditions in summer (May to October) in the headwater region, and the thickness of active layer increases with the increase of melting index and summer precipitation. The researchers also infer that long-term and sustained climate warming is the main driving force for the warming of permafrost in the headwaters of the Urumqi River. " When this kind of news appears again and again, people pay more attention to the development, existence and survival of glacier 1.

Glacier No.1 has been in a state of retreat. During the 40 years from 1962 to 2006, the area of Glacier No.1 has decreased by 0.27 square kilometers, and the decreasing trend is accelerating. From 1962 to 2000, Glacier No.1 in Tianshan Mountain has decreased by 0.22 square kilometers, or 11%. The area of Glacier No.1 decreased by 0.10 square kilometers in 1992-2000, which is close to 0.12 square kilometers in 1962-1992. Scientists from the Institute of cold and arid environment and engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, deeply analyzed the observation data of Tianshan glacier in recent 50 years, such as glacial meteorology, ice and snow grain characteristics, glacial temperature, glacial mass balance, glacial hydrology, glacial terminal position, glacial area and glacial thickness, and found that the characteristics of surface snow grain, ice forming zone, glacial temperature, area, thickness and glacial thickness of Tianshan glacier are different Significant changes have taken place in the terminal position, which are closely related to the temperature rise. The rapid warming since the 1980s accelerated the retreat of Glacier No.1 and the runoff of glacier melt water increased rapidly.

Experts pointed out that different from the changes of glacier area, thickness and terminal, the change of glacier mass balance is a more direct response of glacier to climate change. Since the 1990s, the negative mass balance of Glacier No.1 has been going on for eight consecutive years, which is unprecedented. From 1958 to 2004, the average thickness of Glacier No.1 was reduced by 12 meters, and the lost volume reached 20.62 million cubic meters. It can be seen that the rapid warming since the 1980s has promoted the rapid increase of glacier melt runoff in the headwaters of Urumqi River.

According to Xinhua news agency, Urumqi, April 30, 2017, "as the temperature rises and the snow line rises, Glacier No. 1 at the source of Urumqi River in Tianshan Mountains retreats by 13.5 meters in a year, and may disappear completely in 50 years." Li Zhongqin, head of Tianshan glacier observation and experiment station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has a dignified face.

More than 20 researchers from the Northwest Institute of ecological environment and resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, once again boarded Glacier No. 1 at an altitude of 3800 meters at the end of the glacier to measure the glacier's mass balance, thickness, temperature, movement speed and glacier end change data, and collected a large number of samples.

According to the preliminary survey, the East and West branches of glacier 1 retreated about 7.2m and 6.3m respectively from April 2016 to April 2017. Wang Feiteng, deputy director of Tianshan glacier observation and Experiment Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters that due to the rapid melting of glaciers, the end of Glacier No.1 split into East and West branches in 1993, and the retreat trend is obvious in recent years.

Tianshan Mountain, known as "water tower in Central Asia", is an important water source to ensure the economic development of oasis in arid region and the stability of ecological environment in cold region of Xinjiang. However, the data observed in recent years show the "acceleration" effect of human activities on glacier melting. "The obvious increase in the amount of ice dust on glacier 1 is one of the most significant phenomena in recent years." Li Zhongqin further explained that ice dust particles are dark pollutants on the surface of glaciers, which will affect the reflection of light and heat on glaciers, thus aggravating the retreat of glaciers. Factories and mines near glacier 1, pollutants diffused by vehicles on national highway 216, and soil degradation caused by overgrazing are all the reasons for the increase of ice dust.

protect

According to Zhao Zhigang, deputy director of the natural and ecological protection department of the environmental protection department of the autonomous region, the longest protected area is about 56.5 kilometers from east to west and 43.5 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 947.68 square kilometers, covering three counties and cities.

In order to speed up the process of the construction of the reserve, the government of the autonomous region has set up a leading group to promote the development of the reserve in the future

Chinese PinYin : Yi Hao Bing Chuan