Studies in the Karakoram mountain range in Central Asia show that a covering of debris is protecting the ice in the same ways as a layer of insulation. In recent years glaciologists from Germany and Italy have been carrying out extensive field research in the Karakoram range. While alpine glaciers have lost up to a third of their surface over the past century, it has been ascertained that the tongue of the Baltoro glacier in Pakistan has shrunk by only 65 m despite the rise in temperatures. This relative stability is due not only to the thick cover of debris but also to the fact that the glacier's catchment area extends up to high altitudes, where precipitations continue to fall as snow. Source: www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/wissenschaft/schutt (de)