Expanding Ice in a Warming World

The planet is getting warmer. This is a fact, backed by data. This year is looking to be the warmest on record, even if the year doesn't end all that warm. However, it is important to note that despite this fact, the world has not gotten warmer overall, and that some regions may not behave how you might expect.

This year, Antarctic sea ice covered 7.72 million square miles, the biggest area since the 1970's, when accurate measurements began. It's theorized that changing wind conditions from global warming have caused cold air to move across the Ross Sea, allowing for large scale ice expansion, since there's no land to stop anything. Warm air has instead started moving across the Antarctic Peninsula, and it's worth noting that ice coverage in that area has shrunk from past years.

Another area that is not behaving as expected is half a world away, in the Himalayas. Glaciers in the Karakorum region are not shrinking like other glaciers in the area, and if anything, are expanding. As the planet warms, the Himalayas receive more moisture, and for most mountains, this moisture comes in the summer, as rain. Because of geography, the Karakorum receives most of its moisture in the winter, so it falls as snow, feeding the glaciers in the area.  So again, even though the area is warming, not everywhere behaves the same way. It is important to note that while some glaciers are expanding, many are not, and that some inconsistency does not mean global warming is not an issue. It would be more remarkable if every place on the planet was warming in the same way.