Reposted from FoxNews.com | Published April 17, 2012

A new study reveals that some Himalayan glaciers in the Karakoram mountain range may actually be getting bigger, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Nature Geoscience — a surprising quirk in the planet’s response to a changing climate.……

“This new study doesn’t change our view of the risks and threats from climate change,” Glaciologist Jonathan Bamber said in an online chat at the Guardian. “What it does do is improve our knowledge of the recent behavior of one part of the climate system.”

Indeed, Wahr’s study clearly notes that lower-altitude glaciers and ice caps are melting, to the tune of about 150 billion tons of ice annually, which the study predicts could lead to an overall rise in sea levels. He concluded that the higher altitude and therefore colder Himalayan peaks may be temporarily impervious to factors causing melting.

“… But unlike the lower glaciers, many of the high glaciers would still be too cold to lose mass even in the presence of atmospheric warming,” Wahr said.

Glaciers grow and shrink based on how much snow falls and the temperatures in the area, LiveScience said …