Resolving the Karakoram glacier anomaly
Princeton NJ (SPX) Oct 24, 2014 - Researchers from Princeton University and other institutions may have hit upon an answer to a climate-change puzzle that has eluded scientists for years, and that could help understand the future availability of water for hundreds of millions of people. In a phenomenon known as the "Karakoram anomaly," glaciers in the Karakoram mountains, a range within the Himalayas, have remained stable ... more
Paradoxical climate change scenarios such as the Karakoram glacial anomaly are likely to surface in isolated micro-environments throughout the world. Change is occurring at a pace that exceeds the resources of scientists to comprehensively study individual ecological changes throughout the world. These effects are only likely to be noticed as they are already occurring. In some instances however, these paradoxical effects are more easily seen in advance. For example the effects on coastal wetlands with sea level rise - the extra water would actually eliminate a great deal of marshland. With time to respond to future change scientists have already been experimenting with increased CO2 for years. The idea here was to elevate vegetation within the marsh to mitigate rising water levels. This example is in a well-studied area in Maryland, but we must wonder about the many other counterintuitive changes occurring in remote regions throughout the world that we won’t notice until it’s too late.
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