Artificial glacier melt reduction is gaining increasing attention because of rapid glacier retreats and the projected acceleration of future mass losses. However, quantifying the effect of artificial melt reduction on glaciers in China has not been currently reported. Therefore, the case of Urumqi Glacier No.1 (eastern Tien Shan, China) is used to conduct a scientific evaluation of glacier cover efficiency for melt reduction between 24 June and 28 August 2021. By combining two high-resolution digital elevation models derived from terrestrial laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicles, albedo, and meteorological data, glacier ablation mitigation under three different cover materials was assessed. The results revealed that up to 32% of mass loss was preserved in the protected areas compared with that of the unprotected areas. In contrast to the unprotected glacier surface, the nanofiber material reduced the glacier melt by up to 56%, which was significantly higher than that achieved by geotextiles (29%). This outcome could be attributed to the albedo of the materials and local climate factors. The nanofiber material showed higher albedo than the two geotextiles, dirty snow, clean ice, and dirty ice. Although clean snow had a higher albedo than the other materials, its impact on slowing glacier melt was minor due to the lower snowfall and relatively high air temperature after snowfall in the study area. This indicates that the efficiencies of nanofiber material and geotextiles can be beneficial in high-mountain areas. In general, the results of our study demonstrate that the high potential of glacier cover can help mitigate issues related to regions of higher glacier melt or lacking water resources, as well as tourist attractions.

The increasing global warming trend has resulted in the mass loss of most glaciers. The Urumqi Vally, located in the dry and cold zone of China, and its widely dispersed glaciers are significant to the regional ecological environment, oasis economic development, and industrial and agricultural production. This is representative of glaciers in Middle Asia and represents one of the world’s longest observed time series of glaciers, beginning in 1959. The Urumqi Headwater Glacier No. 1 (UHG-1) has a dominant presence in the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). This paper supplies a comprehensive analysis of past studies and future modeling of glacier changes in the Urumqi Valley. It has received insufficient attention in the past, and the mass balance of UHG-1 was used to verify that the geodetic results and the OGGM model simulation results are convincing. The main conclusions are: The area of 48.68 ± 4.59 km² delineated by 150 glaciers in 1958 decreased to 21.61 ± 0.27 km² delineated by 108 glaciers in 2022, with a reduction of 0.47 ± 0.04 km²·a⁻¹ (0.96% a⁻¹ in 1958–2022). The glacier mass balance by geodesy is −0.69 ± 0.11 m w.e.a⁻¹ in 2000–2022, which is just deviating from the measured result (−0.66 m w.e.a⁻¹), but the geodetic result in this paper can be enough to reflect the glacier changes (−0.65 ± 0.11 m w.e.a⁻¹) of the URB in 2000–2022. The future loss rate of area and volume will undergo a rapid and then decelerating process, with the fastest and slowest inflection points occurring around 2035 and 2070, respectively. High temperatures and large precipitation in summer accelerate glacier loss, and the corresponding lag period of glacier change to climate is about 2–3 years.

Mountain glaciers, which constitute vital freshwater reservoirs for ecosystems and human populations worldwide, are undergoing accelerated retreats under anthropogenic warming. This review synthesizes current approaches to artificially mitigate glacier mass loss, focusing on two intervention categories: (1) enhancing accumulation through artificial snowmaking and water injection, and (2) limiting ablation via manual compaction and surface covering. We evaluate the physical mechanisms, operational efficacy, and environmental trade-offs of these methods, drawing on empirical implementations across diverse glacial settings—including detailed case studies from western China. While these interventions offer measurable local reductions in melt, they cannot offset large-scale cryospheric decline. We, therefore, propose a dual-pathway conservation framework that couples local technical strategies—adaptively deployed in high-priority zones—with stringent global climate mitigation, thereby supporting the preservation of glacial functions and socio-ecological resilience in a rapidly changing world.