One Glacier Grows While Others Shrink—Scientists Search Why

While nearly every glacier on Earth shrinks year after year, one mysterious ice cap in Tajikistan has been doing the opposite—it's growing.

Scientists just completed a daring expedition to the Kon-Chukurbashi ice cap, perched high in the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia. They drilled 100 meters deep into the ice, pulling up cores that contain 30,000 years of frozen history.

The team hopes these samples hold answers to an urgent question: How can glaciers survive as our planet warms?

"If we could learn the mechanism behind the increased volume of ice there, then we may be able to apply that to all the other glaciers around the world," said Yoshinori Iizuka, a professor at Japan's University of Hokkaido Institute of Low Temperature Science. His lab received one of two precious ice cores retrieved from the expedition.

Ice cores work like time capsules. Every few meters down represents hundreds or thousands of years of history, with chemical signatures and sediment revealing what the climate was like when that water first froze.

The drilling expedition brought together scientists from Switzerland, Tajikistan, Russia, and Japan. They originally planned to sample the Vanch-Yakh Glacier, the longest glacier surviving outside polar regions, but dangerous conditions forced them to their backup site.

The team hauled the ice cores down the mountain in 20-inch segments, packed in coolers strapped to their backs. From there, the samples traveled by 4x4 and refrigerated truck to labs for analysis.

Early findings have already surprised researchers. Russian scientist Stanislav Kutuzov found the first 50 meters contained normal ice, but beyond 70 meters, dust particles appeared in concentrations higher than anything they'd seen before.

The final five meters glowed yellow, a puzzling coloration scientists are still working to explain.

The Bright Side

Several glaciers in the Pamir Mountains have proven remarkably resilient compared to ice formations in other mountain ranges. Whatever protects them from the rapid melting seen elsewhere could provide a roadmap for glacier conservation worldwide.

The Ice Memory Foundation, which funded the expedition alongside a Swiss climate institute, stores ice cores in Antarctica for future generations of scientists. As glaciers vanish, these frozen samples become irreplaceable archives of Earth's climate history.

Research continues at labs in Japan and beyond, with scientists carefully analyzing every layer of ice for clues about what makes this glacier special.

If they crack the code, the discovery could help protect the world's remaining glaciers before they disappear.