Glaciers that are Actually Growing

There are actually 230 glaciers in the western Himalayas, which includes Mount Everest and K2, that are defying global warming and are actually growing.

A view of the Mt. Everest region from the International Space Station.

"These are the biggest mid-latitude glaciers in the world," John Shroder of the University of Nebraska-Omaha said. "And all of them are either holding still, or advancing."

Shroder and a team of researchers looked at satellite imagery of the region's glaciers going back to 1960. According to the Discovery News report, a total of 87 glaciers in that region surged forward during that period of time.

It's a different story throughout much of the Tibetan Plateau, high-altitude glaciers are dwindling. The situation is potentially dire for the hundreds of millions of people living in China, India and throughout southeast Asia who depend on the glaciers for their water supply, according to the story.

Shroder suspects that the strong winds aloft (close to the jet stream) are carrying more moisture from the warmer Atlantic (not the case recently) and Mediterranean Sea on eastward into the western Himalayas.