Beijing:
Glaciers in parts of the Karakoram range have shown growth in recent years, which contrasts with their receding trend in other parts of the Himalayas, a British journal has claimed.
The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, used satellite data to assess the state of the glaciers in the central Karakoram mountains between 1999 and 2008, and found that the glaciers, to the west of the Himalayan region, grow by about 11 centimetres.
This phenomenon is not consistent with the trend that most glaciers across the world are receding due to global warming, the study said.
Glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and parts of the Himalayas next to the Karakoram have been confirmed retreating by scientific observations.
The reason for this growth is still unclear to the scientists at National Centre for Scientific Research and the University of Grenoble.
"Right now we believe that it could be due to a very specific regional climate over Karakoram because there have been meteorological measurements showing increased winter precipitation; but that's just a guess at this stage," lead researcher Julie Gardelle said.
Experts believe that frequent avalanches in the Karokaram region results in the formation of a gravel layer on the glaciers, which plays the role of thermal insulation, preventing the glacier from warming.
Though most parts of the region are inaccessible, there has been a general recognition that the observations need to be stepped up in order to clarify what is going on, the research said.