Abstract:Glaciers, an important part of Asia's water tower, are extremely sensitive to climate change. The study on the spatiotemporal pattern of the changes of the glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings in the context of global warming is helpful to identify the main water storage and supply areas of Asian Water Towers, which is of great significance for the rational planning and utilization of water resources. Through comprehensive analysis, it was revealed that the "Karakoram anomaly" might expand in different degrees to the Western Kunlun Mountains and the Pamirs, while the glaciers in the other parts of the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings were in an accelerated melting state recently. Moreover, we also illuminated the influences of the changes of the glaciers over the past 50 years and in different climate scenarios in the future on the basin water resources and sea level rise, and pointed out that the glacier observation and investigation should be carried out systematically, and a climate-ice-hydrological processes coupling model should be set up, in order to accurately assess the glacier melt water resources, which is an important basis for the green silk road construction.