By P Gosselin
Media, “experts” blame global warming for surging glaciers!
The article from Germany’s online Merkur discusses a seemingly paradoxical but dangerous phenomenon in the context of climate change: glacier “surges” (sudden advances).
Symbol image of a Karakoram glacier, generated for illustration purposes only by Grok AI.
While glaciers worldwide are said to be shrinking due to global warming, there are a number of exceptions. Some are growing suddenly at extreme speeds, extending up to 100 times faster than usual.
The reported sudden advances are said to be triggered by unstable mechanical conditions inside or at the base of the glacier. For example, meltwater can act as a lubricant, causing the ice to slide. The rapid movement can cause massive amounts of ice to become unstable and break off.
Moreover, the advancing ice masses can block valleys, causing lakes to form behind them. If these natural dams burst later, devastating flood waves hit lower-lying regions.
The focus is particularly on high mountain ranges such as the Karakoram (Asia), parts of Alaska, and Svalbard. In the Karakoram, scientists observe the “Karakoram Anomaly,” where many glaciers remain stable or are exhibiting dangerous surges despite global warming.
However, researchers emphasize that these advances are not a sign of glacial recovery or an end to global warming. On the contrary: they claim that climate change is altering glacier dynamics so significantly that such unpredictable and dangerous events may occur more frequently or intensely.
They conclude that these growing glaciers are not a reason to relax regarding climate change; instead, they represent a new, life-threatening danger for mountain regions by significantly increasing the risk of natural disasters.
“The climate change is rewriting the rules of the game: Glaciers are suddenly growing and becoming hotbeds for disasters,” writes the Merkur. “These advances are not a sign of recovery, but rather a symptom of extreme instability in the ice system.”
Experts are claiming that these glacier surges are not caused by more snow falling, but by the ice becoming so unstable that it loses its grip on the ground and “slips” forward at high speed, often leading to floods and landslides.
