OTTAWA - Some glaciers are going against the global warming grain and are actually growing, new research has shown.

Looking at satellite images snapped between 1999 and 2008, scientists studying the Karakoram mountains — a range in the Himalayas on the border of China and Pakistan — discovered the massive sheets of compacted snow and ice have either held steady or grown.

It's all about location, one expert says.

"You are beyond the monsoons when you get to the Karakoram, so they get their precipitation from almost European sources," Bruce F. Molnia, a research geologist with the United States Geological Survey, told QMI Agency.

Molnia, who was not part of this study, researches glaciers and often works in the nearby Hindu Kush range, where glaciers are retreating.

"We are talking about glaciers with different sizes, at different elevations at different latitudes, in different temperature environments - all of those are unique factors that need to be examined."

Molnia said most glaciers in North America are shrinking, including those in Canada, but he says those are in temperate regions - areas where it usually rises above freezing.

The geologist points out; however, that temperature plays only one part in the life of glaciers.

"We have about a dozen healthy actively advancing glaciers in Alaska, a couple of them originate in Canada, several of them have been growing continuously for more than 200 years," Molnia said.

He noted global warming arguments are being oversimplified and all of the Earth's ice is not steadily melting.

"Less than 20,000 years ago, the global ocean was more than 400 feet lower than it is today, and the reason for that was, the glaciers covered northern North America, Europe, and in order to produce those glaciers, the water came from the ocean."

"About six thousand years ago (the sea level) reached about the level it is today, and it has fluctuated ever since."

The findings on the Karakoram glaciers are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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[QUOTE=PKB;2306646]Naveen is hot n sexy :)[/QUOTE]

scientists say that most glaciers will be wiped out by the end of this century.

this spells disaster for the sub continent's drinking supply.

not only that, what will power the dams?

Pakistan administration needs a less myopic vision to overcome these upcoming catastrophes or pakistan will truly not exist a hundred years from now.

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[QUOTE=PKB;2306646]Naveen is hot n sexy :)[/QUOTE]

Naysayers notwithstanding, new studies show that Himalayan glaciers are indeed melting possibly due to climate change.

The rate of their melting is not as alarming as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007 but is significant enough to seriously impact water availability in Asia in future.

The warning comes from a new study which has found that glaciers in the Himalayas and Karakoram occupy an area of 40,800 square kilometers. The new estimate is almost 20 percent lower compared to earlier projections. Based on data relating to length, area, volume changes and mass budgets, the study shows that 0.4 per cent of glacier area is getting depleted every year.

The study, published in journal Science this week, puts at rest controversy generated due to projections about melting of Himalayan glaciers by 2035 as well as Indian studies that showed slower or zero rate of retreat of glaciers.

Now, scientists say that measuring horizontal retreat of glaciers could be misleading criterion of assessing health of a glacier. Many Indian glaciers are not retreating at terminus because of accumulation of debris but higher reaches of the very same glaciers may be melting. That's why measuring overall ice mass is a better indicator of melting, scientists said.

An average length decrease of 15 to 20 metres and area decrease of 0.1 to 0.6 per cent per year have been recorded in recent decades. Glacier surfaces have lowered by around 40 centimetres a year. Glaciers in the Indian Himalayas are losing one metre of ice every year compared to 0.4 metre earlier.

"The loss in mass of glaciers in Indian Himalayas has significantly gone up 1998 onwards. Such loss is more sensitive to climate change than horizontal retreat", Dr Anil Vishnu Kulkarni of Indian Institute of Science, one of the co-authors of the study explained.

Dr Kulkarni said initial studies have shown that black carbon - resulting from forest fires and burning of agricultural waste is one of the main contributors towards melting. Transport of black carbon from lower reaches to mountain tops needs to be monitored regularly.

Tobias Bolch of University of Zurich, who led the study, said "majority of the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking, but much less rapidly than predicted earlier. But even a slow disappearance of glaciers could have serious consequences on water availability in Asia". In the medium term, greater variability in the seasonal water drainage is likely. Newly formed or rapidly growing glacial lakes also pose a threat to local populations.

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[QUOTE=PKB;2306646]Naveen is hot n sexy :)[/QUOTE]

does this mean global warming is a scam ? lol

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Shit happens, and then you die!!!

^ global warming is real

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[QUOTE=PKB;2306646]Naveen is hot n sexy :)[/QUOTE]

100 years ??? Now that's really the news. Folks have to wait another 100 years to finally see the end of their miseries. I hope the govt doesn't take those "myopic steps".

haha, people will suffer regardless if Pakistan has no answer to the energy crisis and the impending water crisis.

Actually, 2035-2050 is around abouts the time given for the collapse of the himalayan glaciers. So you'll still be alive to see india and pakistan in utter shit.

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[QUOTE=PKB;2306646]Naveen is hot n sexy :)[/QUOTE]

Unpredictable Pakistan

against all the odds of global warming

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“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees”