Scientists Want to Know Why Some Glaciers Are Growing

“If we could learn the mechanism behind the increased volume of ice there, then we may be able to apply that to all the other glaciers around the world.”

Scientists hoping to solve a mystery

Whilst we are all aware that glaciers around the world are shrinking as a result of global warming, there are striking exceptions. Located in the Pamir Mountains, the Kon-Chukurbashi high-altitude ice cap in Tajikistan is defying the odds and mystifying scientists - and they want to know how and why.

So, reports phys.org, an expedition has ventured into the mountains and recovered ice cores from the glacier containing 30,000 years of frozen water in order to try and figure out how humanity could help these rivers of ice survive as the planet warms.

The glaciers in the Pamirs have proven more resilient than those in other high-altitude ranges, and in fact the Kon-Chukurbashi was the Plan B target for the glaciological team who conducted the drilling earlier this year. Their primary aim was the Vanch-Yakh Glacier, but conditions proved too dangerous for a helicopter ascent.

Vanch-Yakh is the longest glacier to survive beyond the polar regions - and is actually growing - and like the Kon-Chukurbashi and other glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, has proved substantially resilient to the decline seen in glaciers elsewhere. The Pamir Mountains are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, the Karakoram, the Kunlun, the Hindu Kush, and the Himalayas. They are among the world's highest mountains.

If the international ream of scientists working on the conundrum can divine a way to reverse, or stop, our planet's glaciers melting - that would be spectacularly good news.