MELTING GLACIERS - a photo story

A combo photo taken between June and September 2005 shows the glacier lake at the foot of Mount Animegen on the Tibetan plateau. China's rugged Tibet plateau, seen as a sensitive barometer of world climate conditions, is experiencing accelerating glacial melt and other ecological change, as the mountainous region's glaciers have been melting at an average rate of 131.4 sq km (50 sq miles) per year over the past 30 years.

This combo photo - of one taken in 1981 (top) and the other in 2005 - shows the retreating Halong Glacier of the Animegen Mountain on the Tibetan plateau.

This collage - of a photo taken in 1968 (top) and in 2007 - shows the retreating Rongbuk Glacier of Mount Everest on the Tibetan plateau.

Mount Everest, as seen from Rongbuk Temple.