Mountain glacier preservation with artificial interventions: A review

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.