Cryosphere is one of the five climate system cycles, which is consisted of snow, ice and permafrost. The change of cryosphere is widely focused by people, particularly in the context of global warming. 

Glacier is an important part of the cryosphere. It is not only one of important factors that affect climate change, but also a recorder and indicator of climate change.  

Glacier is also a kind of extremely important solid water resource. China’s major rivers have glacier meltwater supplies, especially in the northwest arid areas. Therefore, glacier research has been widely focused by the Chinese officials and academics. 

Mountain glacier, located in middle and low latitude regions of China, is the most developed glacier in the world. At present, some 4/5 of the total area of glaciers in China is mainly distributed in an altitudinal band between 4500-6500 meters. 

The Second Glacier Inventory of China (SGI-China) was formally released by the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI) and research data show that there are 48,571 glaciers with a total area of 5.18×10⁴ km² and ice volume of 4.3×10³-4.7×10³ km³ in China. 

The research shows the number of glaciers with the area below 0.5 km² reaches 33,061 and accounts for the majority part (66.07%) of glaciers in China. Glaciers with areas between 1.0 km² and 50.0 km² are totaled as 3.40×10⁴ km² (2.65×10³ km³ in ice volume) and constitute the main part of glaciers in China. 

The Yengisogat Glacier (359.05 km²), located in the Shaksgam Valley, north slope of the Karakoram Mountain, is the largest glacier in China. The glaciers are spatially distributed in 14 mountains and plateaus in western China. The Kunlun Mountains has the largest number of glaciers in China, followed by Tianshan Mountains, Nyainqêntanglha Range, the Himalayas and Karakoram. 

Glaciers in the above five mountains account for 72.26% of the total glacier number in China, however, over 55% of the total area of glaciers and 59% of the total ice storage in China are concentrated in the Kunlun Mountains, Nyainqêntanglha Range and Tianshan Mountains. 

The research also shows the number and area of glaciers in Karakorm Mountains are less than those in the Himalayas, but the volume of the former is more than that of the latter because the glaciers in the Karakoram are generally larger. 

This research is supported by the National Basic Work Program of MST (No. 2013FY111400), National Science-technology Support Plan Project (No. 2012BAC19B07) and the Major Project of CAS (No. KZZD-EW-12-1), and research achievements were published in Acta Geographica Sinica, Vol. 70, No. 1, January, 2015. (DOI: 10.11821/dlxb201501001)