China's glaciers have retreated by 18 percent since the 1950s, Chinese scientists warned.

A survey using remote sensing data between 2006 and 2010 showed China had 48,571 glaciers covering 51,840 square km in the west region, according to a recent catalog of the country's glaciers released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The worst shrink was detected on the Altai Mountains located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Gangdise Mountain in Tibet Autonomous Region, with retreat hitting 37.2 percent and 32.7 percent respectively over the past half century, according to the survey by the CAS Cold and Arid Regions Research Institute.

Major glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, especially the east part of Gangdise as well as the southern and western Himalayas were melting at the most rapid pace, with areas shrinking by 2.2 percent every year, according to the survey.（Xinhua）