The China Atlas Publishing House has released the country's first atlas of glacier, tundra and deserts.

With Wang Tao, chief scientist of the country's desert prevention and control project, as its chief editor, the atlas, at 1: 4,000,000 scale, depicts the changing status of glaciers, tundra and desert over the past few years.

Wang Tao said that China now has approximately 59,400 sq km of glacier, about 1.95 million sq km of tundra and some 1.28 million sq km of desert. Combined they account for 35.75 percent of China's total land mass.

China's most glaciers are located in the country's west, according to the atlas.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2005)