While glaciers worldwide keep shrinking as the planet warms, one mountain range’s ice sheets held steady, or even grew, for decades. Scientists took years to work out why.
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Indian Geography · IndGeo0033
The Karakoram Range: Ice That Defies the Heat
K2 · 8,611 m
World’s 2nd-highest peak
28–50%
Of the range under glacier ice
5 nations
Borders converge here
The Karakoram anomaly
While most of the world’s glaciers shrink under global warming, Karakoram glaciers stayed stable, or even grew, for decades — traced to a winter atmospheric vortex that dumps heavy snow to offset summer melt.
World’s highest battlefield
India’s claim over the Karakoram’s Siachen Glacier, the world’s second-longest glacier outside the poles, has made it the site of an active military standoff since 1984.
Must Know
- The Karakoram Range is a mountain system in south-central Asia, stretching roughly 500 kilometres.
- It runs from eastern Afghanistan southeast, along the watershed between Central and South Asia.
- Its highest peak, K2, stands 8,611 metres tall, the second-highest peak on Earth after Everest.
- The borders of Pakistan, India, China, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan all converge within the Karakoram system.
- Most of the range lies in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan; its eastern portion falls within India’s Ladakh region.
Good to Know
- The Karakoram holds the greatest concentration of very high peaks anywhere on Earth. Four of its summits top 7,900 metres.
- It is also the most heavily glaciated part of the world outside the polar regions, with 28 to 50 percent of its area under ice.
- The Siachen Glacier, at about 76 kilometres, is the world’s second-longest glacier outside the polar regions. The nearby Biafo Glacier ranks third.
- India’s claim over the range’s southeastern portion includes the disputed Siachen Glacier area, the site of the world’s highest-altitude military conflict since 1984.
Test Yourself
Great to Know
- Scientists call a puzzling pattern here the Karakoram anomaly. For decades, unlike most Himalayan glaciers, Karakoram glaciers stayed stable or even grew, despite global warming.
- Researchers eventually traced this to a large seasonal atmospheric vortex centred over the range, which brings heavier winter snowfall to offset summer melt.
- Steep, high terrain also shades much of the ice and gives glaciers large high-altitude zones where snow keeps accumulating.
- Recent research suggests this decades-long stability may now be ending, as warming finally starts to catch up with the Karakoram too.
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