# Aerial view of melting glacier surface on South Engilchek Glacier, Central Tian Shan, Kyrgyzstan

- By: Maryliflower
- Date: 2021-08-01
- Classification: Photograph
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_melting_glacier_surface_on_South_Engilchek_Glacier,_Central_Tian_Shan,_Kyrgyzstan.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/thumb/2/20/Aerial_view_of_melting_glacier_surface_on_South_Engilchek_Glacier%2C_Central_Tian_Shan%2C_Kyrgyzstan.jpg/1920px-Aerial_view_of_melting_glacier_surface_on_South_Engilchek_Glacier%2C_Central_Tian_Shan%2C_Kyrgyzstan.jpg
- Who can see it: Kids profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Aerial view from a helicopter of the South Engilchek (Inylchek) Glacier and Peak Nansen, Central Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan. Across the valley floor lies the glacier's debris-covered tongue, one of the largest in the Tien Shan. In summer, when Central Asia gets almost no rain, the region's rivers run mostly on glacial meltwater. Irrigation, hydropower and drinking water for millions of people in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring countries depend on this flow. Between 1961 and 2012, Tien Shan glaciers lost 27% of their mass and 18% of their area, and mountain winters are getting less snowy every year.