Purugangri Glacier

Location

Purugangri Glacier (elevation 5620-5860m) originally lies at 89.00°--89.20°east longitude，and 33.44°--34.03°north latitude. But now the glacier area has been expanding around and develops into more than 50 glacier branches, totaling 423 km2. The top flat area occupies 150km2. Looked from miles away, the endless ice field seems to stretch to the horizon. Set off by the blue sky and the white clouds, the glacier is so abrupt and amazing. If you climb up to elevation 6200 m or so, you’ll find the glacier area is actually formed by steps of plat field with different height (scores of meters height difference between each step). And each step of plat area is made of several tops of the ice caps. You can find plat areas in the middle, east and south of the ice field. The ice side gradient is zero, so maybe it is the ideal place to drill for the ice core. There are two basic requirements for the form of the glacier: the whole mountain should be a slight incision level side; secondly this incision level side should be above elevation 5800 m.

The Discovery of the Glacier

On August 20th 1999, expedition team to the Purugangri Glacier with 18 members started from Lanzhou, and after several twists and turns a small storm expedition troops with 6 members finally arrived in Purugangri Glacier on September 6th. At the beginning they didn’t know it was an ice field. On September 7th they explored along the root of the glacier to find the way to climb up the glacier. On 8th September they started to climb the glacier. This day, they spent nine hours (from 9 am to 6 pm) climbing from the base camp at the glacier root (elevation 5400m) up to the elevation 6200 m. And they came back to the base camp at 1 am September 9th after eight hours. Just after the long trip exploration, especially after climbing up to the elevation 6200 m, the expedition team found that Purugangri actually is an ice field.

The Feature of the Glacier

In order to know much more about the Purugangri Glacier, we need to know how the glaciers are classified. Glaciers can be classified according to location, ice temperature or morphology. According to morphology and shape, the largest ice sheet of the world is Arctic and Antarctic ice sheet. The second is Svalbard and Scandinavian glacier. But these two kinds of glaciers have no difference in some Plateau areas if the cut in the mountain landscape is very slight. So they are all named ice field or ice flow. The other types are some small-scale kinds. Such as ice caps, valley glaciers, cirque glaciers and hanging glaciers etc. The existence of ice sheets is a special phenomenon in the polar region. But they were widespread in Scandinavian area during the glacier period until the Holocene coming 10,000-year ago. However, these ice sheets disappeared with the increase of the temperature. Therefore, ice field has also been recognized as a special thing in the polar region for some time. So the name like Svalbard and Scandinavian glacier all carries a strong region feature.

Now some tourists may be curious about the Purugangri Glacier. How does it look like? According to Yao Tandong, head of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research Institute under the CAS, who is heading an expedition team of more than 20 Chinese and American scientists surveying the glaciers in the Himalayas, such a large glacier is rarely found in areas of low latitude around the world. He said he had ever been to Juneau Ice Field in Alaska, USA. The view there is really amazing and marvelous. And valley glaciers, cirque glaciers, hanging glaciers and a few ice caps are widespread in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Some ice caps are very big, such as Gooliya Ice Cap, which occupies more than 100 square kilometers. Yao said he had also appreciated the majestic appearance of Gooliya, but all these glaciers would feel dwarfed in front of Purugangri Glacier. Purugangri Glacier is the largest situated at the low and middle latitude in the world. Discovered by Chinese and American scientists five years ago, it has been confirmed to be the world's third largest after two in the Arctic and Antarctic in the world. With your own eyes, you may tell us whether Yao’s words are true or not.